Travis's duel monsters adventure
by Michael-Z
Summary: There's not much to say about this story. Similar to my Scorpion Warrior story, give me your deck recipe and I'll duel it using Travis's deck. Or if you have Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's World Championship 2011: Over the Nexus, meet me on there and we'll duel.
1. Duelist Kingdom

Key: "Talking" 'Travis's inner thoughts' (Voiceover/Non-story text) Note: I changed the dialogue around. I added some stuff, and took some stuff out. It's still the same as the original story. But I did make a few changes so just go with it.

Chapter 1

The Power of a Deck

(Hey there. Name's Travis Davies. I'm a 15-year-old duelist from America, travelling and studying abroad. I'm also attending classes at Domino High School. I'm friends with Yugi Muto, Joey Wheeler, Téa Gardner, and Tristan Taylor.)

"Yo, Joey, yoo-hoo, you there?" After I made my first move in a duel against Joey, he was taking FOREVER to make his next move. Finally, when he did make a move, he played a weak monster. "Wow, are you serious?" I scolded him with his move. "You spent that time just to play a weak monster?" The monster he played was Kagemusha of the Blue Flame. "Sorry Joey," I continued after drawing my card. "But I gotta do this. I play Blast Magician, equip him with Mage Power, and activate Giant Trunade." (Blast Magician has a special ability that gives it a spell counter for every magic card activated. As a special bonus, this is the best part, for every spell counter I remove, I can destroy an opponent's monster who's attack points are equal to or less than the number of spell counters I remove times 700. So in this case, I activated 2 magic cards, which gives Blast Magician 2 spell counters. 2 times 700 is 1400 Kagemusha's attack points are less than 1400. I'd say, about 600 points less. I just gave you a free math lesson. You're welcome. Anyway,) "I activate Blast Magician's special ability. I remove the 2 spell counters from the magic cards I played to destroy Kagemusha." I said. "Wha! NOO!" yelled Joey in his usual idiocity. "Joey, as your friend, I need to say this. CALM THE HELL DOWN! This is just a game.Now say buh-bye to the rest of your life points because now I activate Magical Blast, which causes you 200 life points of damage for each of my spell counters," Joey's life points 1800. "And now I'll activate Mage Power again." Blast Magician atk 1900. "Aargh, that wipes out my life points." Joey whined. "Get better cards buddy," I said. "Meet me outside after class and I'll help with your deck."

After class, Joey, Yugi, and me were outside sitting at a table eating lunch. Joey let Yugi and me look at his cards. "Joe, let me give you a little bit of advice," I told Joey while handing his cards to Yugi for him to look at. "Your deck sucks! It needs spells to either power up your monsters and traps to kill either your opponent's points, or their cards." I pulled out my deck and pulled a few cards to let him see. "This," pointing to a monster card. "Is a monster card, you have plenty of those so those need no introduction. This," pointing to a magic card. "Is a magic card. There can be equipment cards to prevent destruction, power your monsters up, or clear the field. And last but certainly not least, this," pointing to a trap card. "Is a trap. My deck's spells outnumber my traps but my traps are certainly needed as well. Check this trap out." I pulled out a trap card called Pitch-Black Power Stone. "I have two copies of these cards. Think of them as your reserve spell counters." I pulled out a monster card called Defender the Magical Knight. "Check this bad boy out. Defender is one of my favorites–"

Yugi interrupted me by saying, "JOEY YOUR CARDS ARE NOTHING BUT MONSTERS!" "Thank you Yuge," Said Joey. "I packed my deck chock full of all the kick-butt monsters I could find." "Joey, were you listening to me?" I asked him. "Yeah yeah, somethin' about spells and monsters right Travis?" He asked. "Wow… Joey, I'm surprised. I didn't think you were paying attention to me. Anyway, Pitch-Black Power Stone can move its spell counters onto my cards that I can place spell counters on. But Defender doesn't need spell counters on himself. He has an effect that can use a spell counter from any card, including himself, to protect my other spellcasters." The bell signaling the end of lunch rang, so we all gathered our cards and got ready. "My grandfather owns a card shop, so he can give you a whole bunch of great cards. Maybe, just maybe, I may be able to get him to show you his special card." Said Yugi. Seto Kaiba was walking close by us and he must've overheard Yugi because I noticed his normally expressionless face change slightly.

After class, Yugi led us, along with Tristan and Téa, to his grandpa's card shop. "Grandpa, I'm home." Said Yugi. "Ah hello everyone." Yugi's grandpa said. "So gramps, Yugi here told me you have a special card." Said Joey, way too up-front about the question. "Oh well since you asked me so kindly," Grandpa pulled a box out and opened the top revealing a really strong and very, very rare monster card called Blue-Eyes White Dragon. "…There's only four of them in all the world." Grandpa finished explaining. The door burst open and there in the doorway was Seto Kaiba himself. "Hey, its you." Said Yugi. "Hey Kaiba, wanna get together and play duel monsters sometime?" Asked Joey to Kaiba. "Oh please, I'd have a better chance dueling one of your other lackey's." Said Kaiba. 'How rude.' "I hear you have a Blue-Eyes White Dragon card. But why its here in a dump like this surprises me. Listen here old man, this briefcase holds the rarest duel monster cards in existence." 'Oh they aren't that special. I bet my spellcasters can win against that deck.' "No way," Said grandpa. "This is a very special card that I hold dear to my heart. I would never trade it for all the rare cards in the world." "Then I'll buy it off of you. Name your price, I can pay anything." Said Kaiba. 'This guy does not know when to take no for an answer.' "I said no. I would never trade or sell this card for anything." Finished Yugi's grandpa. "You'd feel that way even if it were a common card, right Grandpa?" Asked Yugi. 'I wouldn't sell my Dark Red Enchanter for anything he has to give.'

A few days after the ordeal at Grandpa's shop, we were walking home from school. Tristan and Joey were talking to each other about Joey's deck. "I'm telling you man, your decks sucks ass. You need better cards." Said Tristan. "Oh yeah Tristan? Why don't we take a look at your cards and see the flaws in them? Besides, Gramps said he'd train me to be a better duelist." Replied Joey. When we got to the game shop, the front door was wide open. "What happened here?" We got inside but couldn't see Grandpa anywhere. "Grandpa?" Yugi yelled for his grandpa. "I'm home. Are you here?" After a few minutes of searching the place, the phone rang and Yugi picked up. "Card shop." Yugi said the usual greeting. "Ah Yugi." Said the voice over the phone. "KAIBA!" Screamed Yugi. I ran down the stairs saying "What about Kaiba?" Yugi shushed me and continued with the phone conversation. "Yugi, you need to come pick up your grandpa at my shop." And with that, Kaiba hung up.

We got to KaibaCorp, his fancy-schmancy gaming company, and found Gramps lying on the floor in pain. "Here comes Mr. Sunshine." I said sarcastically. "Looks like our duel was a bit too much stimulation for the old man. We both bet our rarest cards. And look at my spoil of the war." He held up Gramps' Blue-Eyes White Dragon card for a second and then ripped it in half. "KAIBA! WHAT'D YOU DO THAT FOR!" I yelled. He just gave a smug laugh and said, "Because, even though the Blue-Eyes is really rare, this one can never be used again. Now Yugi, your friends can care for your grandpa, while we duel." And he just walked into another room without a second glance. We got Grandpa to an ambulance, but not before Téa marked our hands with what she called a special sign. It was a smiley face. She said that though the ink may fade, our friendship will never fade. Téa, Tristan, and Joey got Grandpa down the elevator and me and Yugi went into the other room so Yugi could duel Kaiba. Joey joined us a little later. But it wasn't Yugi dueling, it was a different person altogether, kind of like me I guess. But this new Yugi looks different. Same hairstyle, but three of his hair… things go up, his voice gets deeper, and he looks taller. Well, he challenged Kaiba to a duel and we were all surprised as to what this duel was. There were real life monsters. Somehow Kaiba was able to bring the monster on the card to life. Despite the apparent upper hand, Yugi still won the duel using Exodia the Forbidden One. Something weird happened when Yugi thrust his hand forward and Kaiba just fell down in a slump. I'm scared of this new Yugi… anyway, I got a call from Téa telling me that Grandpa recovered and will be coming out of the hospital in a couple days.

A few days later, we were all hanging out at Yugi's place watching TV. The finals for the International Duel Monsters Tournament. It was Rex Raptor versus Weevil Underwood. They were some of the best international duelists in the world. Weevil totally owned Rex, and after winning the tournament and getting the trophy, there comes Maximillion Pegasus to announce a tournament on his private island. 'Oh yeah, I'm so winning that tournament!' "Yugi a package came for us." Said Grandpa. "Really? Who's it from?" Asked Yugi. "It doesn't say." Said Grandpa. "You know, I got a package like that too. My dorm master said the same thing. No return address." I said. I live in an on-campus dorm since I'm from America and I don't have my own apartment yet. I can probably use the money from this tournament to get a house. Or maybe even a freaking mansion for Pete's sake. "Hey, there's a video in here. Along with a glove and some stars?" Said Yugi in confusion after he opened the box. "I got the same thing. All of it. I have it with me too." I pulled my glove out of my bag. "See? Actually the little indentations are for the little stars to go in. Pop the video in." So Yugi put the video in. But all of a sudden, Grandpa was lying on the floor and Yugi was screaming Grandpa Grandpa into the TV screen. What the hell just happened here?

After school the following Sunday, Joey and I found Yugi hanging out on the roof. "Uh… Yuge, what's goin on?" Asked Joey. Yugi started to tear up. "Maximillion Pegasus himself appeared on that video tape and challenged me to a duel." He said. "You dueled a video tape!" I asked in sheer confusion. "Not… exactly. It was Pegasus on the screen but it was like he was actually there talking to me in person. He challenged me to a duel and he actually knew all the cards in my hand like he was reading my thoughts. After he won the duel, he took my grandfather's soul and stuck it in the TV!" He said real sadly. "HE DID WHAT!" Joey and me said at the same time both in surprise. "He took my grandpa away from me. And he's going to pay! I'm going to enter that tournament, and I'm going to fight and defeat Pegasus to rescue my grandpa!"

(A week later, we boarded the boat to Duelist Kingdom. It was a little complicated to get Joey on the boat because Pegasus must not have given him a duel glove and the star chips mentioned in the video. Téa and Tristan smuggled themselves on. Anyway, the duelists we met on the boat was a chick named Mai Valentine, and the international tournament champion, Weevil Underwood, and the runner up, Rex Raptor, themselves. I wish I could contain my excitement. In case you don't know, that was sarcasm. My spellcasters could easily whup Rex and Weevil.)

I was hanging out on the boat's deck since I couldn't sleep. Yugi and Joey decided to join me. "Oh hey Joey, I have a card that I think would help your deck out a whole lot." Offered Yugi to our friend. "Yeah? Watcha got?" Asked Joey in response. "Check this out: Time Wizard. It could help you out in a pinch." "Thanks Yuge." Said Joey in response. I noticed Weevil was coming over. "Yugi, Joey, Lord of the Flies 3:00." They turned to see Weevil. "Hey your Weevil Underwood." "Hello, Yugi and company. Yugi, I heard you defeated Seto Kaiba. With Exodia the Forbidden One no doubt. Would it be okay if I took a look at them?" Asked Weevil with feigned innocence. 'Something's up…' "Sure Weevil." He took the pieces of Exodia out of his special box where he kept the Time Wizard and let Weevil look at them. "Ah the 5 pieces of Exodia. I never dreamed of the day I would ever be able to touch them. So indestructible, so rare, so powerful. But now…" He was walking over to the side of the boat while describing the cards, "they're useless!" And tossed them over the edge. "WEEVIL!" I tackled him while Joey jumped over the side of the boat and I was ready to punch him before he said, "Ah ah ah. If you so much as touch me, I have you thrown off the boat and out of the tournament. Now, I think you have a couple friends to save." I was so pissed at him for what he did that I hesitated… but I got off him and said, "We'll settle this on the island!" I turned around in time to see Yugi jump out after Joey and I called for help. I grabbed a life preserver and threw it into the ocean to save them. 'That smug son-of-a…' "Yugi, Joey, grab hold of the life preserver!" I called to Yugi and Joey. Yugi grabbed the preserver and I pulled them both up. "Sorry Yugi, I could only save two of the cards." Said Joey, sadly. "It doesn't matter Joey. At least you didn't drown." Said Yugi, trying to cheer his friend up. "Bug-boy is still gonna pay for that."

The next morning, we all got off the boat, Joey developed a cold from jumping into the ocean like that. 'Moron.' The guards all led us up to Pegasus's castle, and he explained the rules of the island. When he signaled the start of the island, Yugi, Joey, Téa, Tristan, and I all got into a group and split from the rest of the crowd. "Wow, a billion stairs. What, Pegasus, you have all this money and you can't install a freaking escalator?" I was complaining about the billions of stairs Pegasus has leading up to the castle. When we got to the bottom of the stairs, we found Weevil Underwood in front of the entrance to a forest. "HEY! Its bug-boy! After 'im!" Yelled Joey. We chased him into the forest and there was one of Pegasus's fancy dueling arenas. This was different from the one Yugi fought Kaiba on a couple weeks ago.

Yugi challenged Weevil to a duel to avenge Exodia. But again, it wasn't him. It was the other Yugi dueling for him. He only had one star chip to bet against Weevil's two because he gave one to Joey to get him on the boat, but Yugi staked his entire deck on his duel to gain 2 stars. Weevil had him backed WAY into a corner, but eventually he won. Yugi: 3 star chips, his deck, and the title of international duel monsters tournament champion after his defeat of Weevil. Joey: 1 star chip and a new dueling glove courtesy of the very first, freshly ejected Weevil Underwood. Me: 2 stars. Joey and I haven't dueled… yet. But who knows, maybe we will.

"Travis! Hey Travis!" Yelled a voice coming behind us. We all turned around to see where the voice was coming from. "Oh… no." I said grimly. "Travis?" Asked little Yugi. "Uh… who's that?" Finished Joey. "Ugh… Ricky what are you doing here?" I asked him. "You uh want to introduce us to your friend there?" Asked Téa. "Guys this is my annoying little brother Richard." I said while giving him a playful noogie. "Ricky, this is Joey Wheeler, Tristan Taylor, Téa Gardner, and Yugi Muto." I introduced him. He seemed a little star struck because when I said Yugi's name, he just blurted out, "YUGI MUTO! You're the one who defeated Seto Kaiba! He's undefeated!" "He WAS undefeated." Said Joey mockingly. "That is until Yugi here defeated him." He finished. "I thought you wanted to stay with Dad while I was studying in Japan?" I asked Ricky. My mom died when Ricky was about 2 years old. I was 7 years old at the time so that would make Ricky 10. "You shouldn't be here. Why are you here anyway?" He held out his hand, which just so happened to have a dueling glove on it. "Since when! You're ten years old!" I said in surprise. "Well, I wanted to be just like you, so after you left, I made a deck to enter Pegasus's munchkin tournament. I got second place. But Pegasus was so impressed by how well I handled the cards that I was entered into this tournament. Now don't forget our deal! You promised me you'd challenge me if I got good enough." He said. "Alright, but just because you're my little brother, don't expect any mercy. And since we're in a tournament already, we're betting star chips." I told him. "NOO! If you win, I'll get kicked off the island!" He started whining. "I can see why he's annoying." Said Tristan. I smirked at him and continued talking to Ricky. "Don't worry, I'll settle things with the guards and you won't have to leave the island if you lose. You'll get to see me duel in the finals in person."

We found a duel arena and got ready to duel. The life points were set to 2000 and we both bet both our star chips. I let him take the first move. "I play Cyber Valley (ATK:0 Def:0) in attack mode and end my turn." He made his play so it was my turn. I drew my card and said, "Ricky, dueling 101. You don't play a monster with 0 attack points without playing another card to back it up. Especially in attack mode and with nothing to protect it. Breaker the Magical Knight (ATK: 1600 DEF: 1000) in attack mode. Attack Cyber Valley." Ricky interrupted me by saying, "Don't you know that Cyber Valley has 3 effects? I'm activating the first one." (First effect of Cyber Valley: When Cyber Valley is selected as an attack target, you can remove this card from play, draw 1 card, negate the attack, and end the opponent's battle phase.) "Urgh… fine. 1 face down, turn end." I looked at Joey and said, "Pay attention Joey, my next move will definitely surprise you." Ricky continued his turn with, "To start my turn off, I think I'll go and activate a magic card named Solidarity." I was way surprised with that move. "How do you have a card that powerful in your deck!" Ricky said, "Pegasus said he'd give this to me if I joined the tournament." "I don't get it, what's so special about that card?" Said Joey. "Are you kidding Joey!" I said still surprised. "That card raises the attack of all the controller's monsters by 800 attack points if you have monsters of no more than one type in your graveyard." "That's right. That was even the card I pulled with Cyber Valley's effect. Now I summon Proto-Cyber Dragon. (ATK: 1100 + 800 = 1900 DEF: 600) Attack Breaker!" Proto-Cyber Dragon destroyed my monster and since they were both in attack mode, the difference in their attack points is subtracted from my life points. My life points are now at 1700. I draw my card. "I give up 500 life points so I can play the magic card Twister. That destroys Solidarity." My life points are now at 1200, Ricky's life points are still 2000. "I summon Mythical Beast Cerberus in attack mode and he destroys Proto-Cyber Dragon. Set 1 card, my turn is over." Ricky's life points are now at 1700. "I play Machina Soldier. When my field has no other monsters when I summon him, I can special summon another Machina monster from my hand. I choose Machina Sniper." (Soldier 1600 atk Sniper 1800 atk) "Sniper attack Cerberus." I interrupted him with a counter move. "I activate a trap card. Magic Cylinder! It redirects your attack back to one of your other monsters, destroying it and causing you damage to the difference in their attack points." Magic Cylinder redirected Machina Sniper's attack to Machina soldier, making Ricky lose 200 life points. It seems like our match attracted a little attention because a crowd started to gather. Including a guard. I started to get a little nervous and distracted. Ricky's life points went from 1700 to 1500. "When a monster is destroyed by a trap card's effect, half of that monster's attack comes out of your life points." Ricky's life points go from 1500 to 700. "Oh no… uh… 1 card face down. My turn is over." I drew my card. "I summon the Summoner Monk in attack mode. But his effect moves him into defense mode. And speaking of effects, I play another one. I discard a magic card from my hand so I can special summon another spellcaster from my deck." I started to tear up a little bit. "Sorry I gotta do this to you, but I play Magical Blast. It causes my opponent 300 life points of damage for every spellcaster on my field." The tears started to come down my cheeks fast now.

Due to the effect of Magical Blast, since I have 3 spellcasters on my side of the field, my opponent loses 300 life points for each one. 3 times 300 is 900. That brings his life points to 0. The guard came over to the ring and announced me the winner. Ricky gave me his star chips and I added them to my collection. Me: 4 star chips. The guard walked over to us and told us that since Ricky doesn't have anymore star chips, he needs to leave the island. "NOO!" I pleaded to the guard. "Please reconsider! He needs to stay! I'm all he has." I really started crying now. "Why should I reconsider?" Asked the guard, rather heartlessly. "Our parents died when he was little. They were flying in from a conference overseas when something happened with their plane and it crashed. I'm not sure how many survivors there were, but our parents… oh god please don't take him away!" The rest of the crowd, including my friends, really seemed to buy it because Téa and one person in the crowd actually started to cry too. Someone else said, "You jerk! Leave the kid on the island, the brother's all he has." Other people started to agree with him.

The guard got a call. When he hung up, he said, "Your lucky. That was Mister Pegasus on the phone. He told me to let the kid stay." The crowd started clapping, and I said, "Thank you so much. I won't forget this." About 13 hours later, Joey and Yugi were both at 10 star chips. The duel that gave me my 10th star chip was against someone who was using a frog deck. His strategy was to change the field to a swamp and MAJORLY power up his real weak frogs. I was almost defeated at 900 to 600. But I beat him. I convinced him to bet 6 star chips against my 4 because that way, he could get into the castle quicker. I still beat him too. Joey's duel was against some creepy looking kid named Bonz. That gave him his 9th star chip. He's really gotten good. Yugi's last challenge was to avenge Mai Valentine in a duel against another creepy duelist. He said he was an eliminator and he called himself Panik. After that one, he dueled against another duelist who called himself the ghost of Seto Kaiba. He constantly claimed he was Kaiba's ghost, but we weren't believing him. Eventually he revealed himself to be some sort of butt ugly clown. He wasn't Kaiba's ghost but he was his evil side that Yugi banished during his duel against Kaiba. Before THAT one, one of Yugi's other friends showed up and challenged Yugi to a friendly match with no star chips on the line. He said we should all put our favorite cards into Yugi's deck so it would be like we were all in this duel. Yugi chose the Dark Magician, Joey the Flame Swordsman, Tristan the Cyber Commander, Téa the Magician of Faith, and my favorite card was Defender the Magical Knight. He has strong defense as well as a strong effect. Then Bakura started to act strange. His voice got deeper and raspier. A weird ring appeared around his neck. Unfortunately, I'm not sure why but I don't remember one second out of the entire thing. Joey just said it was a dream, so I probably shouldn't even worry about it. Why does Yugi duel all the weirdos? Eventually we all got to 10 star chips, Yugi and Joey had to duel a pair of dueling mercenaries who called themselves the Paradox Brothers. My god they were annoying. But we got through the maze, and we got to Pegasus's castle.

The guard let us all in and we got a bird's eye view to see Pegasus wipe Kaiba all over his specially designed arena. Something strange happened because after his duel, Kaiba just got a blank expression in his eyes. Like Joey in history class. Something must've made Yugi snap because before I knew it, the deeper voiced Yugi took over and told Pegasus that he was gonna defeat Pegasus and save everyone that fell victim to the power of his millennium eye.

The next morning, we were treated to a big meal that Pegasus threw in honor of the duelists that made it here. "Hey why isn't Pegasus here? Shouldn't the host be here? Its only polite that the host graces his guests with their presence." I said. "Master Pegasus will not be joining us this evening. He is busy preparing for the finals. If you don't like it, leave the island now." Said his crony known as Croquet. 'Well fine then, you prick.' We were then served soup after the big meal. I just slurped it down. Hey, I figure that if the host won't be polite and show his face, why should I be polite. I felt something touch my lips but then the soup caught up to me and my throat started burning like crazy. "OH JEEZ THAT WAS A BAD IDEA!" My throat felt like it was on fire, but it cooled off almost immediately. "Uh… okay… never mind." 'Whoa… that was weird.' I just took a drink of my water in total embarrassment. "If you would be so kind as to WAIT for the soup to cool down next time." Said Croquet. "I'm… fine now." 'I don't think that's ever happened before.' I looked at the little ball that I felt touch my lips. "So what's with the eyeball?" Joey started freaking out because the same little eyeball popped out of his soup. A little eyeball popped out of Yugi and Bandit Keith's bowls of soup too. "If you'll open those eyes, you'll find a letter." We all did what he asked. My letter said A. Yugi's had B. I wonder what Joey and Keith had. A big monitor came down from behind Croquet. "These are the listings for the finals." He started explaining. The same letters that he explained the duelists received showed up on the screen. "Here are the duels for the finals. It will be A versus B. C versus D." He finished explaining. 'Oh how original.' "Hey Yugi, I guess its me against you." He nodded and said, "And no matter who wins, we stay friends right?" "Right." We said. "WHO HAS D?" Screamed Joey in his impatience. 'God, Joey, don't have a freaking cow.' Keith just nonchalantly held up the last piece of paper. "Ha this'll be revenge for trapping us in that cave." He didn't say anything but instead just continued eating his soup. Later that night, Joey, Yugi, and me and my brother were all hanging out in my room. "What was that little show you put on for us at dinner Travis?" Asked Joey. "I uh… don't… I don't even know. One second my throat's on fire, the next… nothing." I said just as confused as Joey was. "Anyway, Joey," Yugi interjected. "If you and I win our duels, it'll be me and you in the semi-finals." "That's right Yuge. And we don't let our duel get in the way of our friendship." Yugi nodded to him and got up and left the room.

"Hey, Travis?" Said Joey to me. "Yeah…?" I responded. "Do you think you'd be able to throw your duel against Yugi?" Ricky and I looked shocked. "But why!" Ricky asked. "Travis has always dueled his best!" "Yeah, but Yugi needs to win, for his grandfather." 'Oh yeah… I forgot. When Yugi dueled that videotape of Pegasus and lost, Pegasus must've taken Gramps' soul. I'm still confused as to how though.' "Me and Yugi need to duel in the semi-finals. Yugi for Gramps, and me…" Joey hesitated a little bit as if he didn't want to finish his sentence. "I need to win this tournament… for my sister." He finally finished his sentence. "Your sister? You never mentioned you had a sister." I said. "I did actually," He said. His voice was sounding different… It wasn't high and hyper like it normally was. It was low. He was being serious. "This was before we were all in the cave and I dueled against Bonz. Yugi, Tristan, and Téa found my wallet and they knew what I was dueling for." He said. "I was somewhere else dueling so I must not have heard you mention you had a sister."

After Joey left, Ricky encouraged me to think about it over the night, so while I slept on it I was also making my decision. When the semi-finals came around, it was me against Yugi. I held up my promise to Yugi and, ending my winning streak on the island, I let him win this duel. I looked up at Joey with, surprisingly not a look of disappointment at Joey's encouraging me to throw the match, but with a look of confidence for what I did. I could tell by the look on Joey's face that he was thinking "thank you" but not saying it out loud so the rest of everybody here wouldn't understand what happened. Yugi did though… "Travis, what happened? You had great strategies and you pulled them off flawlessly in your duels on the island." He asked me. "Its… uh complicated." I pulled out my "Glory of the King's Hand" card. 'Guess I won't need this anymore.' While Joey was walking up to the arena, Keith was just laying down on the couch like he was so confident about not having to go up to the arena right away. 'Now if that isn't suspicious, I don't know what is.'

Joey was on his end of the arena and Croquet announced for the contestants to flash either of their glory cards. Keith was SO confident about holding up his card that he didn't even move an inch from the couch. 'If that's doesn't say I did something please disqualify me from the finals, I don't know what did.' Joey reaches for his pockets and… nothing. He starts freaking out and being all spazzy. "Joey…?" I said accusingly. After a while of him searching his person, Croquet says he has 5 minutes to go get it. He ran out of the arena and I chased after him. "Joey!" "What is it Travis?" Said Joey. "I threw my duel against Yugi for you. You may owe me one, but take my glory card. I don't need it." I handed him my glory card and he just stood there not doing anything. "Well take it you spaz and get back in there. And good luck in your duel." "Thank you Travis. Really." He said still standing in the same spot. "Save the waterworks for AFTER you win the freaking duel!" I pushed him towards the doors and he walked with renewed confidence. I ran to the top of the banister just in time to see Joey and Keith draw their beginning hands. After a long and toughly fought duel, Joey eventually won. Keith doesn't know how to take no for an answer and, before he got kicked out of the castle, he ran back to the arena and jumped over to where Pegasus was sitting, demanding Pegasus give him the prize money. But before we knew it, Keith must've fallen down a hole.

Next up, this was really hard for Téa, but next up were Yugi and Joey in a duel against each other. They promised each other that no matter who won, they'd still be friends. After a long and hard fought duel, where Joey got the upper hand against Yugi, Yugi ultimately defeated Joey by reviving the recently destroyed Black Skull Dragon. Téa was finally relieved that one of them won. And now, was the final duel, this was it. Yugi vs. the Duel Monsters creator himself: Maximillion Pegasus. Joey, Tristan, me, and Téa were all standing up in the rafters. The duel started to get a little intense when, all of a sudden, a giant bubble appeared around the arena. Before that, Yugi began swapping between his two selves. Pegasus must've been reading his cards somehow because he got a strange look on his face.

"Ricky, stay up here!" I told Ricky. When the bubble appeared, we all ran down there to see if we could get inside. Téa tried reaching in, but her hand reappeared on this side. Tristan tried rushing in to get inside, but he ended up on the other side. I felt a sharp sting in my heart. The others must've felt that way too because they felt the same thing. "Did you guys just feel that!" I asked in shock. "Something bad must've happened!" I could also sense what happened like I was there witnessing the entire duel. "Y-Yugi…? YUGI!" I tried shouting for him but nothing happened. "Guys Yugi's in trouble! Pegasus… he must've done something to him because he just fainted!" I could then hear Pegasus's creepy voice as well. "Now your cards are like an open book!" He said. "Oh no. Yugi's about to lose." I said. "How do you know?" Asked Tristan. "I don't know, I can't explain but somehow, I just know." I said. "Maybe Travis has a stronger bond with Yugi. So much so that he can tell how well he's doing in a duel even though he's not right next to him." Suggested Téa. "Well anyway," I said. "We need to do something." Joey looked at his right hand and said, "We need to put our hands in." "What'll that do?" Asked Tristan. "Téa mentioned a bond Travis had with Yugi, which I doubt, and that reminded me of Yugi's first duel. You know against Kaiba?" Téa must've figured out what Joey was saying. "Now I remember, I marked our hands with a special sign." "Oh no! Pegasus… is reading Yugi's mind!" I said in complete confusion. "Don't ask again, somehow I just know. We need to help!" I finished. "Guys, I think we should put our hands in. Our bond is strong, so we should be able to help him in some way." Suggested Téa. We put our right hands in, the hands that Téa put that special sign on and I heard Pegasus. Somehow he couldn't read Yugi's mind. And that's exactly what Yugi used to finally defeat Pegasus.

The bubble cleared and we saw Pegasus slumped over his end of the Arena. And on our end… little Yugi. "Hey guys!" He said. We all cheered for him. A few hours later, we were on the boat that brought us to Duelist Kingdom. Yugi won the title of King of Games and Kaiba had been returned to normal. If that's the case then Grandpa must be back to normal too. About a week after Yugi defeated Pegasus, I told the group that I needed to go to an airport to take Ricky back to America and back to our dad. "Tell Grandpa I said hi when you see him." After I told them that, Ricky and I got on the plane to America, and a couple days later, we were reunited with our father.


	2. Battle City Part 1

Key: "Talking" 'Travis's inner thoughts'

Battle City

"Hey Ricky, I bought some new machine cards for Machina Mayhem." It was about a year after me and Ricky got back from Duelist Kingdom. When I transferred back to my old American school, all my friends swamped me with questions about Japan. The questions died down about after the first 4 months or so. In the year I've been back in America, I've rarely heard from Yugi and the gang. But one day, "Hey Travis, its Yugi." He said. "Yugi? Hey! What's up?" I said in surprise about my friend from Japan calling me after a year. I heard a voice in the background. "Yugi… is Kaiba there?" I asked him in confusion. "No. Actually, he's starting up a battle city tournament in a three weeks and you're one of the people who can participate." He told me. "That's really cool." I said. "I'm going to win this one!" I finished with pure confidence.

I told my dad and Ricky that I was going back to Japan. The week after Yugi told me about the tournament, I was packing up. I was looking for more stuff to pack when I found the booster packs that I bought for Ricky last week. "Ricky! Come here for a minute." I called for my little brother. When he got up to my room, I gave him the packs. "This completely slipped my mind when Yugi called me. I bought you some booster packs that should help your deck out a lot." He opened up the packs and was real excited about the new cards.

I started giving him a few good strategies. "These monsters work very well together in a deck, Red Gadget, Yellow Gadget, and Green Gadget. These monsters are like a stoplight: red, yellow, and green. When you normal summon red, you can get yellow from your deck and put in your hand. It's the same for yellow for green, and green for red. Cyber Dragon let's you special summon it if your opponent has monsters but you don't. Machina Fortress: You discard monsters whose level is 8 or more to special summon this from your hand or graveyard. For the first turn you draw this monster, discard this monster and another level 1 monster to revive this from the graveyard. These two monsters are very rare, so don't let them out of your sight."

2 weeks later, I was all ready to go. My dad took me to the airport at 5:00 in the morning; one so I could sleep on the plane, and 2 so my dad would have enough time to get to the airport and back. I got on the plane and the next day arrived in Japan. Guess who was there to greet me: Yugi, Tristan, and Téa. "Nice watch. Hey… where's Joey?" I asked in confusion. "He's at the hospital," Said Yugi. "When I won the Duelist Kingdom tournament and gave him the 3 million yen, he was challenged to a duel against a Rare Hunter but lost. Then I challenged him and won, and I got Joey's prized card, the Red Eyes Black Dragon, to take care of. Now he's at the hospital, waiting for the results of his sister's eye surgery." He continued. 'So that's what he wanted me to throw the duel for.' "And about these watches you said? They're really one of Kaiba's new inventions, a portable duel arena called a duel disk." He handed me a box. "Here, this one's yours." He finished. I got the duel disk out of the box when we got outside the airport.

Yugi explained the rules to me. Both parties start with 8000 life points. You sacrifice monsters to play stronger monsters. If your opponent has no monsters, you can attack your opponent directly with all your monsters. Only one summon per turn, unless an effect says otherwise. You can special summon as many monsters as you want. There's a new rating system in the form of Locator Cards, you ante as many as you have.

A few hours later, I got a new lease on the apartment I had before the duelist kingdom tournament. I put the duel disk on my arm to try it out. And I was challenged to a duel almost immediately. His name is Sako Masasaki. I decided to test out a new deck I bought.

I started the duel. "I'll take the first move, if you don't mind. So I'll start off with a facedown. Then I'll summon Legendary Six Samurai – Mizuho. Since he's on my field, I can special summon Legendary Six Samurai – Shinai from my hand. Since I control a face up Six Samurai monster, I can special summon Grandmaster of the Six Samurai from my hand. And now for my last move, since I control two or more Six Samurai monsters, I can special summon Great Shogun Shien from my hand! I think that's enough for this turn." I made my move and ended his turn.

Next was Sako's turn. "Oh no." Whimpered Sako. "I activate the magic card Reinforcement of the Army. With this card, I can add a level 4 or lower Warrior type monster from my deck to my hand. I choose Elemental Hero Prisma. Now I'll summon him in attack mode. Prisma attacks Mizuho, and you lose 100 life points." Me: 7900 life points. Sako: the full 8000.

It was my turn now. "To start, I'll activate Gateway of the Six. And now Grandmaster of the Six Samurai attacks Elemental Hero Prisma! And now Shinai and Great Shogun Shien will attack your life points directly!" Grandmaster attacking Prisma reduces Sako's life points by 400. After that attack, he has 7600. After Shinai and Shogun's attack, that reduces his life points by 4000, leaving him with 3600. "Turn end."

Sako's turn: "All I can do is place one monster facedown in defense mode, and end my turn."

My turn: "I summon The Six Samurai – Irou!" Sako attempted to destroy Irou by activating bottomless trap hole, but I stopped him by sacrificing Shinai first. "Now Irou has an awesome effect: He can destroy a facedown monster without even flipping it faceup. And thanks to Great Shogun Shien, he places a one-card limit on your facedowns. So now Shien and Grandmaster both attack your life points directly!" That reduces his life points to 0. Duel ends.

"Ugh, thanks for the duel Travis." He said. "No problem Sako." I replied. "Here's my locator card." Said Sako. "Thanks." I now have 2 locator cards.

A few hours later, after I won another duel to get 3 locator cards, I found Yugi and Mai. We all compared locator cards. Yugi had 5 locator cards; I had 2 locator cards; Mai had 3. I was about to challenge Mai to a duel to get her 3 locator cards when, all of a sudden a helicopter appears above us, with my little brother tied to a rope hanging below the helicopter! "RICKY! WHAT'S GOING ON!" "Travis Davies!" Called out a voice coming from the helicopter. "We have your little brother! If you want him back, there'll be two duelists waiting for you at the top of that towering building behind you! And Yugi Muto, we have your friends. If you want them back, go to the building as well." "RICKY! I WILL SAVE YOU!" That was all I could say before the helicopter took him away again. So Yugi, Mai, and I went to the top of the building that the voice from the helicopter told us to go to. Here were the duelists that they told us about. Their names are Lumis and Umbra. 'Their names sound Latin. I wonder which deck I should use.' Lumis explained the rules to us. Behind us are shadow boxes. If all of our life points run out, then the glass we're standing on breaks, sending us falling to our doom. This was the confusing part: they said we'd reach the shadow realm before we reach the bottom. 'Shadow realm?' I need a quick victory to get the information faster so I decided to use my Six Samurai deck.

We all drew our hands, and mine could not be any worse. A few hours later, all of our life points were looking pretty low. I could see a look of fright in Yugi's face. "Yugi, Nil Desperandum." I exceled in Latin class. "What does that mean?" Asked Mai. "It means it must not all be despaired. Yugi, as long as we still have cards in our decks, we can still win this. I'm gonna activate a couple magic cards known as Gateway of the Six and Six Samurai United. Now I summon Legendary Six Samurai – Kageki and that lets me bring out Legendary Six Samura – Mizuho from my hand. Six Samurai United now has 2 bushido counters on it. I can send it along with both bushido counters to draw two cards." The two cards I couldn't use right away. "Now I activate Gateway of the Six's special effect. As long as it remains in play, for every Six Samurai monster I summon, this gains two bushido counters. Now I can remove the 4 bushido counters to bring a Six Samurai monster from my deck to my hand. I choose Legendary Six Samurai – Shinai. Now since Mizuho is on my side of the field, I can special summon Shinai from my hand. Kageki's other effect activates now. Since I have 2 or more Six Samurai monsters on my field, Kageki gains 1500 attack points. Attack Umbra's life points directly!" When they did, Umbra's life points went down to zero. His shadow box exploded destroying the glass under him. It was just Yugi and I against Lumis now, but he gave up the duel.

I ran over to Lumis to shake the information about my little brother out of him, but something weird was going on. His voice changed. It sounded like he was possessed by a demon or something. "Yikes! Mai, call an exorcist quick." I said. "What's going on?" She replied. "MARIK! WHAT'S GOING ON!" Yelled Yugi. Mai and I gave each other a glance of confusion about the situation. The possessed dude told us to go to a pier, and then he fainted. "Yugi!" I said still freaked out about the situation. "What's going on?" "Marik is an evil mastermind who's trying to take over the world using the power of the Egyptian God Cards. That's why I entered this tournament, so I can stop Marik and his evil plans!" He replied. "Oh yeah, cause people are afraid of holograms!" Said Mai sarcastically.

"Its more than that. If Marik or any of his mind slaves defeat me and get their hands on my puzzle, he'll get the unlimited powers of the pharaoh and take over the world." Finished Yugi. "Taking over the world using simple holograms. Well that's a little awkward, but I'm gonna help. Now I have another reason to be in this tournament." I said. "I'm going to help you defeat Marik!" I looked at Mai with a challenging look on my face and held up my three locator cards. "If I remember, Mai, you have 3 locator cards." "What are you talking about, kid?" She asked. "I challenge you to a duel. Whoever wins goes right to the finals." She looked nervously at the glass floors and I got her hint. "Don't worry, we won't duel on the glass." A few minutes later, we were back on the ground and we got to dueling. She was playing a different deck than she used at duelist kingdom. "So Mai, finally decided to put more than one monster in your deck eh?" She was using a different type of cards called Amazons. They were very tricky and I had a difficult time dueling her, but I pulled out my favorite combo and defeated her. Using two Gateway of the Sixes, and summoning a Six Samurai monster, I eventually defeated her by constantly special summoning my Six Samurais. I defeated Mai in a duel, knocked her out of Kaiba's tournament, and gained a spot in the finals myself. A few moments after she left, I broke the awkward silence between me and Yugi. "I hate how we couldn't get any information from Lumis and Umbra." I fumed. "If they hurt my little brother, they are going to pay for it." Yugi and I split up to gather information.

While I was searching, I came across one of the freaks in the robes. "Hey you!" I called to him. "I need to ask you something!" The robed freak turned around. "What do you want? Get out of my face!" He snapped. "I need information. I've lost my little brother, Ricky. Perhaps you know of him?" I demanded of him. "How do you know I know where your little brother is?" He asked. "I just dueled a pair of thugs with the same clothes as you! If you know anything, TELL ME!" I yelled at him. "Hey, take it easy! I'll take ya to him. But this information won't come free. What are you willing to sacrifice?" He said in a cocky tone of voice. I grabbed him by the collar and was about to punch him. "HOW ABOUT I LET YOU KEEP YOUR TEETH!" I snapped again. The rage in my face told him I was telling the truth. "Okay okay… uh…" He hesitated. "TELL ME WHERE HE IS RIGHT NOW!" I started to get angrier and angrier. "He's in a warehouse." He said. "WHAT! A-a warehouse!" The rage turned into equal confusion. "What are you talking about! In the time I've been here, I've never seen a single warehouse." I started to calm down when he finally gave me the information I've been looking for. The robed freak started to get cocky again. "You want more information? Like a location?" He said. "No, I thought about wandering around the city aimlessly without a location in mind." When I get sarcastic like that, then I was getting annoyed. "Tell me where this warehouse is!" My rage started to build again. "Tell you what, give me one of your rare cards and I'll tell you." That did it. I punched him straight in the jaw. The punch sent him straight to the floor.

We started gathering a crowd. "My friend and I couldn't get any information from the robed thugs we dueled earlier." I picked him up by the collar again. "I will do much worse to you if you don't tell me where my brother is!" He gave me the information at last and I stormed off without a second's hesitation. Mai caught up to me. "Hey Travis," She said. "I was in that crowd. Anyone who stands up to that robed goon like that is alright in my book." I stopped. "Anything else?" I asked her. "Whoa what's with the attitude?" She asked. "If you were in the crowd, you would know. I'm looking for Ricky. Somehow those same goons found him all the way in our hometown. What do they even want from me anyway?" I asked in slight confusion. "I don't know, but I know the area that that goon told you about. I can get you there." That got my attention. "You can? How?" I asked her. "I do have my own car." She said. "I entered the duelist kingdom tournament for the fame and fortune. A girl can do a lot with 3 million dollars." She continued. "Please take me there!" I pleaded. "Follow me." She said.

At the warehouse, those goons tossed Ricky into a big room. Téa was there too. "You'll pay for kidnapping me when my brother finds you!" He shouted, but no dice. "Ricky?" Said Téa. He turned around. "Oh, hi Téa. Nice to see a friendly face." He said. "Are you okay?" He finished. "No. I tried escaping with a mountain of boxes but they caved and I fell." She said. "Ouch… its because your too heavy for the boxes." Said Ricky. "WHAT!" Téa got pissed. "It is all about weight. I weigh a lot less than you, so rebuild the boxes and I'll be able to get us both out of here." Téa's agreed with Ricky. "That's a good idea." They got to rebuilding the mountain of boxes. It started to cave again, but the goons that took Ricky went back into the room. "HEY! Get down from there!" Ricky was able to grab the ledge before the boxes collapsed again. "TÉA!" He yelled for her. "Go! Save yourself!" The goons grabbed her. Ricky pulled himself up and out of the skylight. "Go look for him!" One of the goons shouted.

Mai was driving me to the location near where the goon I interrogated said. "This is as far as I know. I don't know this area all too well, so your on your own for the rest of the time kid." I got out of the car. "Thanks Mai." Then I heard a familiar voice calling out for me. I looked towards the direction where I heard my name. It was Ricky! "RICKY!" I called for him. He found me and started running towards me. He finally got to me and grabbed me in a big bear hug. "Travis! I was so scared!" He said while he was starting cry. "Ricky, don't be scared. I'm here now." I said trying to reassure him. "Hey kid. Remember me?" Said Mai. "Mai!" He said excitedly. "Mai, will you be able to keep us from those goons? I think Ricky's had his fair share of excitement for today." I asked her. "Hop in." She said. I asked her to take me back to my apartment. While on the way, we saw two people crossing the street while the light was still green. Mai stomped on the brakes to avoid hitting them. "Hey watch it! I almost hit you guys!" She said madly. "Please help us!" Said the girl with bandages over her eyes. "We're being chased by these goons in robes!" Said the guy guiding her.

Mai looked at me and Ricky. I got in the back seat. "Get in!" Said Mai. Ricky got in the middle seat and the girl got in next to her. The guy got in front. "You said you guys were being chased by robed goons?" I asked the guy. "Yeah." He said. "Me and my little brother here were in the same predicament." I told them. I looked at the girl, and suddenly realized something. "Do you guys… know someone named Joey Wheeler?" The girl piped up. "That's my brother! Do you know where he is?" I figured it out now. "Your Serenity? Joey talked about you all the time during Duelist Kingdom." I said. "My name's Duke Devlin. I found Tristan and Serenity running from some of those guys." He said. "Look, there he is now!" I told Mai. She stopped the car so Tristan could get in. There wouldn't have been any room, so Ricky had to sit on my leg. "They're at South Domino Pier!" He said. "Well hold on!" She said. She made a sharp turn that nearly made me barf. "Where'd you learn to do this!" I shouted. A few minutes later we got to the pier to catch the end of a duel between Yugi and Joey. "What's going on?" I said. We started running over but Kaiba and his little brother, Mokuba, were there watching the duel. "Kaiba, what's going on!" I said while we were running over. Mokuba stopped us. "Don't go any farther. If we try to stop this duel, Téa may get hurt." He said. "Wait, what? Hold on, first… what's going on here?" I said. "Joey and Téa got possessed by this weird guy named Marik. He forced Joey to duel Yugi with their very lives at risk. Whoever loses gets pulled under the water by that giant anchor to drown. Téa's over there being held hostage as insurance. We try and stop this duel and that rare hunter over there will push a button and the giant block of steel will fall and crush her." The same robed goon that was chasing all of us held out a remote detonator. "Don't take another step!" He said. "Yugi's holding his own, but Joey's getting the upper hand a lot because Marik filled Joey's deck with a whole bunch of rare and powerful magic cards."

"How can Yugi be holding his own? He has 1000 life points and its Joey's turn!" Said Tristan. He activated a card called Meteor of Destruction. It's a very rare, very powerful card. 'Yugi's done for!' "I activate a trap card called Mystical Refpanel!" Yugi shouted out as his card activated. It stopped the power of Meteor of Destruction from hitting Yugi. Joey started flipping out and telling someone to get out of his head. "Joey you did it! You're back to normal!" He said. Joey didn't have any idea what was going on. "Was he ever possessed to begin with?" I asked nobody in general. A helicopter then showed up, grabbing the crane holding the giant thing above Téa's head into the water behind her, exploding safely and saving Téa. Then for some reason, Yugi told the Refpanel to attack himself instead of Joey. That caused Yugi's life points to go right down to zero. A box sitting between Joey's ankles opened up and there was a key inside it. 'A key? Must be the key to the winner's chain.' Joey commanded Yugi's Red Eyes Black Dragon to attack him which caused his life points to go to zero as well, opening up Yugi's box. There was a timer above the anchor that showed thirty seconds. Instead of grabbing his own key, Joey swings over to Yugi's side and grabs HIS key. "JOEY! Grab your key!" I shouted. "TOO LATE!" Shouted Joey as another explosive blew up and dropped the anchor and Yugi and Joey into the ocean.

I ran over and tried to grab Joey's hand but it was too late and he and Yugi were pulled under. I couldn't stand there and do nothing, so I ran over to Joey's box and grabbed the key just in time to see Yugi explode from the surface of the water. Tristan dove in and helped him. "Great! Yugi's safe! I'm going for Joey!" I said, then dove into the water myself. It was strange, but… I felt like I belonged in water, like the ocean was my true home. I could breathe underwater. I don't understand why though. There's no time to waste though, I had to rescue Joey. So I sped up my swim to him and caught up within a few moments. "Joey!" I called to him. "I have your key!" He must've heard me cause he was pointing to the chain around his ankle. I caught up to him and unlocked the chain around his ankle and under a few seconds was able to get above water and get Joey some air. "Travis… can you breathe underwater?" He asked me. "I don't know. It felt like it." I responded in major confusion. "Well… uh thanks for rescuing me Travis." He said. "And Yugi, sorry about, you know, what happened and all." He said to Yugi. "OH!" Piped up Serenity. "I can take my bandages off today!" "Really Serenity? That's great!" Said Joey in excitement.

A few hours later, we were on our way to the location of the Battle City Finals. "See you later guys, and good luck in the finals." Said Mai as we hopped off the bus. "You aren't going?" Asked Tristan. "Nope." I said. "Just like at Duelist Kingdom, I knocked her out of the tournament!" "Bye Mai." We all said. The door to the bus closed, and the bus left with Mai on it. Would we see her again? Only fate will tell. [Note from the author: EPIC FORESHADOWING FTW]

So some time later, after the introductions were over with, a blimp came flying overhead. "We will be dueling on top of that blimp!" Said Kaiba. "Wow, I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I thought this GIANT ARENA was the only thing that could hold Kaiba's ego." I looked up at the blimp. "Guess I was wrong." The blimp lands and we all get on. "Whoever's late is disqualified." Said Kaiba. 'Wow, he's full of sunshine.' The final finalist showed up anyway, but she was allowed on anyway, albeit after getting bitched at by Kaiba.

The morning after taking off where I had little sleep due to the commotion going on from Joey's room next door. "Holy crap! Look at this spread!" I called out when we got to the banquet room. I looked at Joey and Tristan and said "Feeding Frenzy!" We got to work and cleared out at least a quarter of the food. "I need this food. I barely had any sleep last night after the commotion coming from your room Joey." I scolded him. "Hey, don't blame me. Blame Duke, Tristan and Téa. They crashed my room." He said. After everyone finished, it was time for the tournament finalists to be called. Kaiba's croney, Roland, and little brother, Mokuba Kaiba, were there to call out the final tourney tree. Roland explained the rules. Eight numbered balls, equal weight so the whole lottery is completely random. "Bingo!" I called out. I couldn't resist. I got a feigned laugh from Duke. "Anyway," Roland continued. "Your numbers are on your ID cards." Meaning Kaiba's number is 1. I'm number 2. Yugi is number 3. Joey's numero Quattro. Namu, Joey and Téa's friend who helped out Bakura when he got hurt, is number five. Speaking of Bakura, he's number 6. And Marik, the creep that kidnapped Ricky and possessed Joey and Téa and forced Joey to duel Yugi a few days ago, is number 7. There actually is an eighth duelist, but she didn't show up for reasons unknown.

"Now the randomizer will automatically shuffle the numbered balls and choose the numbered balls 100% random," Said Roland. "If your number is called, you'll be participating in the first duel of the Battle City finals. The first duelist is number 6, Bakura." "Uh I'm pretty sure Bakura can't duel." I said. "I'll take his place." "Whoever's chosen will duel in the first duel. No substitutions, no exceptions. At all. If you don't like it, I will disqualify you on the spot." Said Mr. Sunshine himself, Seto Kaiba. "Well, aren't you a big ball of happy. Sheesh." I said. 'Prick.' Bakura just laughed a little to himself. "The second duelist is being chosen." Continued Roland. The fancy bingo machine spit out number 3, Yugi. "Whew, I can't believe I'm saying this, but thank you Kaiba." I did not want to duel and lose in the first duel of the Finals again. I already dueled Yugi once before at Duelist Kingdom so I was not in the mood to duel him again. "The first duel of the Battle City finals will start in the stratosphere arena." Said Roland. "Where's that!" I asked in surprise. "Why don't you pay attention." Kaiba said scowling at me. 'Jeez! It doesn't hurt to be surprised, asshole.' We got up to the roof of the blimp where we then saw a giant arena come out. "I should've brought my jacket." I said shivering. "We're crusing at an altitude of 4000 feet. The strong winds and cold air will test your strength and stamina. If you can't take it, get out of here." Said Mr. Sunshine, I mean Kaiba. "How is this balloon even flying? Shouldn't the air've blown out?" I once again asked in surprise. When Yugi and Bakura got on the arena, I just got a big chill down my spine. Its not because of the cold air, or lack thereof, but something coming from Bakura just struck me the wrong way. Ricky saw my face. "Travis?" He asked, snapping me out of my confusing. That also made me jump a little. "Oh geez Ricky, don't scare me like that." "You were kind of transfixed on Bakura dude." Said Duke. "Something doesn't sit right with me." I said. "What do you mean?" Asked Téa. "It's hard to explain… I just have a weird feeling about Bakura." I said hesitantly.

The arena rose and Yugi and Bakura went over to their ends. "At the three minute mark, go back to your corners and take a rest." I said jokingly again. No one got it. "Eh… cause of boxing? Kaiba said strength and stamina, y'know, boxing…? Nevermind." I said a little nervously. I then blushed a little out of embarrassment. "Before we start dueling, tell us your real name." Said Yugi. I had a look of surprise on my face because Yugi must've had the same feeling of Bakura that I did. The Millennium Ring then grew out of Bakura's chest. "What the!" "The Millennium Ring?" "I chucked that out as far as I could at Duelist Kingdom! How'd he get it back!" Shouted Tristan. Something just flooded my head after seeing the Millennium Ring. It was the first time Yugi and Bakura dueled. Bakura took us to something called the Shadow Realm. A strange feeling came over the gang, and we were transported to a weird place. A split second later, I somehow appeared on what looked like a big mat on top of a tree trunk. I was dressed in my favorite duel monster, the Dark Red Enchanter. I was also surrounded by Yugi, Joey, and Tristan who were also dressed in their favorite monster's clothes too. Yugi as the Dark Magician, which didn't look NEARLY as cool as the Dark Magician himself. Joey as the Flame Swordsman, which looked awesome. And Tristan was his favorite, The Cyber Commander. He may look cool, but the Cyber Commander only has 750 attack points. The only thing he's good for is defense and to sacrifice. I attacked Bakura's facedown Cyber Jar which threw out all the cards in both player's hands.

This is the weirder thing, when I caught a glimpse of everything behind Yugi, only Joey, Tristan, and Téa's bodies were there. Mine wasn't, and Yugi's body was being used by the same Yugi that's up on the arena dueling Bakura right now. Ricky didn't choose a favorite monster so he was the spectator. "Oh no…" I said scared. "I think I'm gonna go to my room now…" I said as I walked to the elevator. "Hey, Travis, what gives?" Joey asked me. "I'll… uh… tell you later. Ricky, stay here and cheer Yugi on. Tell me the details when the duel ends." I got to the elevator and went to my room after stopping off at the main floor. "How come I remember Yugi and Bakura's first duel now! It doesn't make sense. Was that a repressed memory? How did looking at Bakura's ring flood my head with all those memories?" I said out loud to myself. "A–… am… am I even human? What am I?" I said looking at my hands in fright. I got inside my room and decided to take a nap to settle my nerves.

To be continued


	3. Battle City Part 2

Key: "Talking" 'Travis's inner thoughts' ('Dialogue from a dream') [Note from the author]

Battle City

Part 2

Ever since that flashback I got after watching Bakura summon his millennium item, I tried getting some sleep. Or, at least I tried. My mind was racing so I couldn't get any sleep at all. "Aargh." I groaned. After about 10 minutes, I gave up. So I decided to check on the progress of the duel between Yugi and Bakura.

When I got to the stratos deck, there was a big cloud with eyes staring at everyone. I almost jumped after that. I joined the rest of the group and started watching again. "So who's winning?" I asked. "Bakura's winning by about 1500 life points." Said Joey. "He lured Yugi into a false sense of security by purposely letting Yugi get ahead in the beginning of the duel." Duke continued. "Then he played a creepy field spell called Dark Sanctuary. It summons a ghost that randomly possesses one of Yugi's monsters. Yugi doesn't know so it's really risky for Yugi to attack." Finished Joey. "Your brother got too scared and ran away." Said Namu. "What happened?" I asked in surprise. I went back down to the main deck to look for Ricky. When I went down, Yugi had 3 monsters on his side of the field. "Ricky! Are you down here?" When I yelled for him, the mysterious 8th duelist left her room and called for me. I ran over to her. "Who're you? How do you know who I am?" I asked her. "Your little brother, Ricky, told me." She told me. She didn't seem all too bad, so I started to ease up on her when she mentioned Ricky's name. "You know where he is?" I asked her. "He's in my room. Come with me." I followed her to her room.

"Something must've happened to your poor brother because he was crying and cowering in a corner." She said. "What happened?" I tried to get more from her. We got to her room and when she opened it, Ricky was sitting on her couch drinking something. "Hey buddy, something the matter?" He turned to me still crying a little bit. "I'm sorry Travis. I couldn't handle it. When Bakura played his card, that scared me so much. Ishizu was nice enough to let me stay in her room." I gave Ricky a hug to help him calm down. "Its alright. The duel got too intense, and it spooked you. I had my share of frights when I was your age. Thanks for looking after him, Ishizu was it?" I asked her. "Yes." She said. "Come on Ricky, let's go back to the duel." I said. "But what about Bakura's card?" He asked really scared. "There's nothing to worry about, shrimp. They're just holograms." I said.

I convinced Ricky to follow me to the elevator so we could witness the rest of the duel. When we got up to the stratos deck, we saw a giant red snake that was wrapping itself around the blimp. "What's that?" I asked in surprise. "That's Yugi's Egyptian God Card!" Said Tristan. "It's huge!" I said. "That's a duel monster's card?" 'If it is, Yugi probably summoned it after Ricky and I left Ishizu's room.' Ricky started clinging to my leg in fright. The next turn, Yugi was about to call his attack, when I heard the elevator's bell sound. "Hm? Someone's coming." I said. The person stepped out. It was Marik! "What're you doin' here baldy!?" Shouted Joey. "Easy, Joey. I wouldn't make Baldy mad." I said. He said something about releasing control over Yugi's opponent.

Nice Bakura was back! Yugi was struggling with his decision to call an attack. 'If he attacks, he wins but Bakura might get hurt. If he doesn't, the world is doomed.' After a few minutes, the spirit of the millennium ring somehow took over Bakura again and told Yugi to attack. He did it and won the duel. But Bakura looked seriously hurt. Ricky almost wet himself from witnessing Slifer's attack. "Guys, look after Bakura. I gotta babysit Ricky." I said taking him to the elevator. We got to our room a few minutes later. "Wow Ricky, if this whole tournament was gonna be traumatizing for you, I wouldn't have entered." I told him jokingly. He laughed a little. "There are 3 more duels left for the first part of the finals. If things get too intense for you, I want you to stay here." I told him. "Okay." He said.

It was time for the next duelists to be called. First to be called was No. 2, me. "Good luck Travis." Said Joey. "And Mr. Davies' opponent will be no. 7, Marik Ishtar!" Roland announced. 'I've never seen Marik duel before,' I took my deck out. 'I hope my samurais will be good enough.' Our decks were shuffled, the duel started, and we drew our starting hand. But before I drew my first card, he pulled something out from behind him. "Huh? What's that, some kind of mystical stick or something? Is it supposed to scare me?" I asked Marik. "Yes, Mr. Davies." He said authoritatively. "Travis, be careful! That's the millennium rod! You have no idea what'll happen, do you?" Shouted Joey. "Relax Joey. I don't scare easy." I said to Joey. I turned to Marik. "You should run for president, or emperor, or something. You have a commanding voice." I said. "Thank you, Mr. Davies." He said. 'Mr.? I don't like being called Mr.' He put the glowing stick away. "Shall I get started? Or do you have a mystical magical stone you'd like to show off? Are your shoes magical too?" I said sarcastically. "Heh, that's Travis for you," Said Ricky. "He's confident no matter what he does." I flashed them the peace sign with my fingers and drew the first card of the duel. "For my first turn, I activate a magic card called Shien's Smoke Signal! That lets me add a level 3 or lower Six Samurai from my deck to my hand. I add the Legendary Six Samurai – Mizuho from my deck to my hand." 'So, nobody's ever seen this dude's deck before, so I should play it safe for now since I don't have a trap in my hand either. "One monster facedown ends my turn."

Now it was Marik's turn. "I'll play Temple of the Kings! A card like none you've ever seen!" He shouted. "I'll say. I've never heard of this card!" I said in surprise. "The building behind me is known as the Temple of the Kings." 'Kings as in the Pharaoh?' "Within this 5000 year old sanctuary houses the greatest treasure of the kings of Egypt!" He said. "Dibs on the treasure." I said jokingly. Too bad they were only holograms. "Well, what does it do?" I asked. "In order to protect the treasure inside the temple, it limits the number of spells or traps you are allowed to play in a turn." He informed me. "Oh no!" I said in shock. 'If I can't play as many cards, that'll put me at a huge disadvantage! I need to take that thing out!' "And in front of the temple, I'll play these two cards facedown as an extra boundary of protection. And with this move, I end my turn."

[I'm skipping a majority of the duel.] Marik was dueling circles around me. I kick ass with this deck, but it seems like he was prepared for all of my cards. In so many turns, he reduced my life points by a huge amount. I was down to about 1500 life points. I got him down to at least 3000. Unfortunately, he attacked and destroyed all my monsters that I played with an even rarer card than Temple of the Kings called Mystical Beast Serket. With every monster it destroys, it gains attack points equal to half the attack of the monster it destroyed. All those attacks got me down to 1500 life points. I was doing pretty well against him until he summoned Beast Serket. He was about to call an attack but hesitated. Then I heard a high raspy voice from somewhere.

I was looking around confused. I kept hearing voices but nobody's mouth was moving. Marik was looking at someone from the group like he was looking weird. The raspy voice told Marik to, in order to keep up an identity; to play a card called The Winged Dragon of Ra. I kept hearing a name called Odion. 'Marik's voice is deep and I know what all my friends sound like. Wait a minute…' I suddenly realized something, but it was too late. He sacrificed Mystical Beast Serket and half his life points to play The Winged Dragon of Ra. "What's that!?" I said in shock. That monster was huge! I read about something one time in history class. It was a really powerful sun god known as Ra. This must be it! I had to talk quickly, that card Marik, or what he's really known as as Odion, played is a fake. "You aren't Marik!" Everyone had a shocked look on their face. Even Kaiba, who's usual scowl turned into a look of surprise. "How can you be certain? I'm the only one who can control the power of a God card as powerful as this." He said. "I know you aren't Marik, because that card is a fake!" Now everybody's faces turned into an even more defined look of shock. Kaiba's face definitely looked shocked. "How do you know that card's fake?" Asked Joey. "I don't know; I just have a feeling." I said. "Well who has the real card!?" Asked Kaiba. "You aren't gonna believe me, but…" I didn't finish, but instead looked at Namu. Somehow, the sky turned dark. "What's going on? Is this part of the duel?" Asked Téa. A lightning bolt struck Odion in the head. "Odion!?" I called to him. "Odion? Who's Odion!?" Asked Joey. "Someone, get Ricky below deck!" I shouted. Tristan got Ricky into the elevator before another lightning bolt struck me in the head too. Both Odion and I got knocked out.

('Huh… what's going on? And… where am I?' I asked groggily and confused. I was laying on a lumpy but apparently comfy couch. It feels like I've layed on it before. 'Hey Travis, get up.' I heard a voice that almost sort of reminded me of Tristan's voice. [Lol yugioh abridged moment. "My voice gives me super strength." Just kidding.] The kid was wearing a sleeveless brown tank top and a black shirt with something that looked like a red head wearing a helmet. His hair was black with gold highlights and it had 2 layers, the back upper layer was pointed up, while the back lower layer pointed lower. 'W-where am I?' I asked the voice. 'Where are you? Your in Satellite.' Said the voice. 'In a satellite? Are we in space?' I asked. 'No. You forgot didn't you? 17 years ago, there was an accident with the Ener-D reactor. It exploded and a huge chunk of Neo Domino City was separated from it, becoming the Satellite.' He told me. 'Neo? There's another Domino City?' I asked him. 'Come on, let's have a duel to refresh your memory.' He suggested. 'A duel? I'm already in one…' I looked around at my surroundings. It was a crappy looking apartment that looks almost like a run-down version of my apartment. 'At least… I thought I was. Who are you?' I asked the kid. 'You don't know who he is?' Asked another kid with an Australian accent. 'Come on, you gotta remember.' How do I remember a name that I've never even heard before? 'I'm sorry, but I don't know.' I said; a bit dejected at the urgency coming from the Australian sounding kid. 'You got amnesia or somethin'? Please tell me you remember this pretty face.' I heard another kid with a bit of a low raspy voice. His hair was orange and all spiky and, in all actuality, looked pretty cool. He had a yellow M tattooed on his forehead, but I didn't say anything cause I didn't want to sound weird. He was wearing the same thing that the kid with Tristan's voice and the Australian kid were wearing. I shook my head and the kid with the M on his forehead looked dejected. 'Oh come on, how can you not know who I am?' He said raising his voice at me. 'Come on, Crow, he probably has amnesia. Let's give him a break.' Said the Aussie. 'But Jack! Huh… hey… hey Travis, do you remember him?' Asked Crow. He was referring to Jack. I shook my head. 'What!? How can you not remember who I am?' Jack asked, a little peeved at my response. 'Come on, Jack, he probably has amnesia. Let's give him a break. Isn't that what YOU said?' Asked Crow in a mocking tone of voice. 'Oh lay off mate. Travis, seriously, how could you not remember any of us? We've all been part of the same team for years. Kalin's our leader. Do you remember him?' All? I shook my head. 'Oh I give up.' Said Jack. 'Well let's duel. Maybe you'll get your memories back in the duel if you play using a strategy you've honed.' Said the kid with Tristan's voice. 'Alright but can you can you tell me your name?' I asked him. He laughed a little and told me. 'Yusei.' I grabbed my deck, noticing I was wearing the same brown vest as the others but I had a dark purple T-shirt on. I got up but dropped my whole deck. 'Hmph, butterfingers.' Said Jack. 'Hey lay off, I'm really confused here.' I snapped. Yusei helped me pick them up. 'Hey, you have tuner monsters. I didn't see these in your deck. Kagemusha of the Six Samurai and Shien's Squire.' He said in amazement. 'Those aren't mine. What are they?' I asked him in even more confusion. 'If your gonna play 20 questions all morning then I'm out of here.' Said Jack, getting more annoyed by me with everything I say. Then he just up and left. 'Anyway, what are tuner monsters and what do they do?' I asked Yusei. 'Tuner monsters are really cool monsters. They're like fusion material monsters, but you don't need polymerization. Let me show you.' He took his duel disk, the battle city tournament duel disk, and started getting some of my cards and led me outside. 'Where'd you get that duel disk?' I asked him in surprise. 'This? I've had this ever since I learned how to duel. Why? Does it look familiar?' He asked me. 'Of course it does! That's the battle city duel disk! I thought I was dueling in the finals though.' I said in part amazement part shock. 'Battle city tournament? You've gotta be like 80 years old if you were in that tournament.' Said Crow. 'Yeah seriously, how could have been in THAT tournament?' Said Yusei. 'I… don't know.' I didn't even realize what I said. 'Must be a side effect from the amnesia: making delusional comments.' Said Crow. 'Yeah… I'm probably hallucinating.' I said. 'Well let's get started,' He grabbed Kagemusha of the Six Samurai, and the Legendary Six Samurais Mizuho and Shinai and summoned them. 'Now level 2 Kagemusha of the Six Samurai tunes to level 3 Mizuho and Shinai,' As if on cue, they all jumped in the air. Kagemusha burst revealing 2 circling balls of light, which then turned into green circles. It looks like a gateway. Then Shinai and Mizuho hovered into the green circles, going transparent with orange lines, then disappearing and revealing more blue lights. There were six lights total. 'Synchro summon Stardust Dragon!' A big green pillar of light shot between the circle-gate things and the six lights, revealing some type of awesome dragon. 'That's synchro summoning. When you have a tuner monster on the field, you can tune, or fuse, that monster to more monsters and synchro summon a stronger monster. But the levels have to be equal. It isn't like fusing two monsters together to reveal a powerful one, you can use a tuner monster and ANY other monsters, so long as the levels total up to the stronger monster.' Yusei told me. [Sheesh, Xyz summoning was SO much easier to friggin learn when I first saw Yugioh Zexal. I mean like using 2 or 3 monsters with the same level to Xyz summon an Xyz monster. That was easy to explain.] 'So let me see… level 2 Kagemusha plus the 2 level 3 six samurais Shinai and Mizuho equal the level 8 Stardust Dragon?' I asked him. 'That's right. Now get up.' He said. 'What?' I asked. 'Get up.' He said again.)

Back in reality, my friends were shouting at me to get up, and Roland started counting backwards from 10. And Marik, the real Marik, freaking out and screaming at the top of his lungs. I was able to get up so I won the duel by default, then ran over to Odion along with the rest of the group except for Marik; he's freaking out and clutching his head in what seems to me like pain. "It was an honor to duel you Mr. Davies." Said Odion before passing out. Then Marik's true personality came out. He gave this big speech about using the power of the god cards and the power of the Pharaoh, Yugi, to take over the world. Then he left us all to our thoughts.

Some time later we all went to the bingo caller room to find out the next match up. Joey vs Marik. So by process of elimination, only two duelists haven't dueled yet: Kaiba and the mysterious 8th duelist. 'Hmm… our rooms are marked with the numbers that were called. So the 8th duelist must have an 8 on their door. Ishizu's next? She's kinda weird. Earlier when I was looking for Ricky, she stepped out the second I got to the hallway. I don't think it was coincidence if Ricky was in there and she was comforting her.' I was lost in thought but Tristan snapped me out of it. "Hey dude, come on." He said to me. "Yeah… sure. Hey, Sunshine. You'll be dueling against the last person in these finals right?" I asked Kaiba. "Yeah. So?" He said in his usually grumpy attitude. "Just… just be careful. I have a weird feeling about this last duel for some reason." I told him. "Save your breath. I don't need your advice." He told me then stormed off to the elevator. "Well, sooorrrrreee for being friendly." I said sarcastically.

We all went up to the stratos deck to watch Joey's duel against Marik. He was way too overconfident, especially in shuffling the deck. "Somehow I was able to hear Marik and Odion speaking. They're in cahoots, so Marik's deck is probably similar to Odion's. Joey's in trouble!" I figured out what would happen if Joey went through with this duel. "Hey Pharaoh, do you know anything about the rest of the Millennium Items?" I asked Yami Yugi. "No, my memories of my time as Pharaoh of Egypt are all a blur. I only know about the abilities of the items we've already encountered so far." He informed us. "Joey! Don't go through with this duel!" After realizing how long he's been shuffling, he turned to me and said, "I can't. I promised Yuge that I would help him save the world. I plan to do exactly that." 'Well… say goodbye to your soul.' "Good luck." Was all I could say to him. The duel started and they drew their cards. Joey almost lost his off the deck, but caught them just as they were about to be lost to him. "Hey Joey, that's not where you remove the cards from the game. Keep a good grip on them will ya?" I called to him.

They started dueling, and right off the bat, Marik was in a huge lead. Attack after attack, Joey acted as if he was losing his memories of us. I was the first to go. Tristan wrote it off as Joey going braindead or something. He thought he got the advantage when he stole Marik's Egyptian God Card, The Winged Dragon of Ra. He attempted to play it but instead of the sun god Ra, there was a big ball in the air. "What's that?" He called out in surprise. He looked at his card to find that it changed. "You can't read the text on the card can you?" Teased Marik. "Y-yeah I can… uh… hey Winged Dragon **whistles** here boy… uh…" He tried. "I just lost all respect for him as a duelist." I said. "Did it work?" Joey finished. "Yep. There it goes." He was forced to end his turn and Marik started his by calling out some weird chant. After he finished, that ball turned INTO the Winged Dragon of Ra! "What's the deal? Odion didn't have to call a chant when HE summoned Ra!" Said Tristan. "That's because Odion's was a fake!" I told him. "Joey!" We all called to him. Marik then summoned 2 weird monsters known as holding arms and holding legs. Then a weird stone appeared behind him and the holding monsters clamped onto his arms and legs and bound him to the stone. "What happened? What kind of holograms are those? JOEY!" Called Téa. Tristan climbed up onto the platform to try and get Joey out of the bonds, to no avail.

Marik called an attack that would destroy both Tristan and Joey, but Yugi jumped in between the blast and shielded them. When the attack faded, Yugi fainted out of exhaustion. Joey was ruled as the loser of the duel. "And now you must fulfill your end of the agreement of dueling me." Said Marik as he was walking over to Joey and Tristan. "Hey step off!" Said Tristan as he stood between Marik and Joey. He grabbed Tristan by the collar and tossed him off the platform like a ragdoll and onto me. "Joey!" We both called out to our soon to be soulless friend.

"Don't worry Serenity, I'll defeat Marik and save Joey!" I said to a horribly distraught Serenity. Some time later and after Kaiba and Ishizu's duel, which Kaiba won thanks to help from a vision he saw in which his Blue Eyes White Dragon was calling out to him, the blimp landed at a big tower which Kaiba explained was the finals to the tournament. We got to the center of the tower which Kaiba further explained was the first round of the last of the battle city finals. To determine who would duel who, we were all gonna duel in a battle royale. The duel ended up being me vs marik and Yugi vs Kaiba.

[I will type this duel out. I just hope my fingers will survive. ;-;]

"Marik, I WILL take you down. For Joey." I told him. "Oh please. You barely stood a chance against Odion, and after witnessing my duel against Wheeler, you have to be shaking in your shoes. You won't win this duel." Yugi, Kaiba, and eventually Tristan, Duke, Téa, and Mokuba. "Hey guys, hey Yugi. Hey Sunshine." I said to everyone when they arrived. "Ricky, can you go back to the ship?" I asked my little brother. "Why? I want to see you duel big brother." He told me. "Ricky, please listen to your brother. I have a horrible feeling this is gonna be the duel of his life. I don't want you to witness something bad happen to him if that were to happen." Said Yugi. "But Yugi, my brother's going to win the Battle City finals. I wanna watch." He said. "Ricky please go back to the ship." I told him. "No! Travis, if anything happened to you, I'd want to be the first in the family to know. I don't want somebody to break the news to me AFTER the duel. I'd feel even worse about it knowing that I wasn't there to help support my brother. I want to be here to see the look on Marik's face when you whup him, win the duel, and save Joey and the world! And NOTHING'S going to change my mind!" He said with so much confidence. "How can anyone say no after hearing that speech?" Asked Duke. "Way to go little man!" Said Tristan. "Alright," I caved. "If something happens to me, I just want you to know… I love you bro." I told him. Téa all but swooned over that statement. "Marik, let's duel!" I said with my confidence restored. "With pleasure!" He said with a sneer.

Marik's turn: "I'll begin the duel." Said Marik. "Be my guest. This way, I'll be able to attack when my turn comes." He drew his card. "I'll play Gil Garth in attack mode. Then I shall place one card facedown and end my turn."

My turn: 'Oh man, I was hoping we wouldn't play a facedown.' "My turn." I drew my first card. "From my hand, I play Shien's Smoke Signal. This allows me to add a level 3 or lower Six Samurai from my deck to hand. I choose the legendary six samurai mizuho." 'Hm… Shien's squire; one of the tuner monsters I saw in my dream after my duel against Odion. If I remember correctly, I can combine this monster with a level 4 to create Legendary Six Samurai Shi En. Or 2 level 4's to summon Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier.' "I summon Legendary Six Samurai Kageki in attack mode. That lets me special summon Legendary Six Samurai Mizuho in attack mode. And when I have another six samurai on my side of the field, Kageki gains 1500 attack points. That ends my turn." Kageki's attack points are now 1700.

Marik's turn: "This seems like the perfect time to take this duel to the next level." He said. "What, are you gonna ask your duel disk to marry you?" I said mockingly. "No." A purple fog appeared behind his head and cloaked the whole top of the duel tower. 'I was afraid of this.' "You don't scare me!" I said. "Oh? Does the though of being swallowed up by the shadows scare you?" He asked me. "I admit this rattles me, but I will win this duel and save Joey! Now make your move!" I called. "Fine! But first, a little twist to this shadow game." He said. Two purple lines moved from my chest to my monster's chests. "What's going on?" I asked. "I thought I had a strange connection to my monsters before but not like this. What's going on?"

"This is the twist I threw in. I raised the stakes. Now when your monsters are attacked, a portion of your life force is drained, making it easier for the shadows to devour you. Now for my turn, I summon Drillago in attack mode. Gil Garth, attack Mizuho." He called out. "Oh no!" Mizuho's destruction at the hands of Gil Garth not only lowered my precious life points, I also felt a large amount of pain. "W-what was that?" I asked. "That was the shadows taking a portion of your life. As your life points go down, so does your life FORCE." He explained. "So… when I lose my last point, then I die?" I asked him, albeit a little weak from that attack. "Yes." He said rather quickly. Kageki's attack points dropped from 1700 back down to 200, which caused me even more pain. "What happened?" Asked Mokuba. "Oh… no. When Kageki's the only monster on the field… he loses the attack points gained from having other Six Samurais." I said.

"Well then, isn't this a surprise for me. I'll enjoy this next attack. Drillago, destroy the weakened warrior." Drillago destroyed Kageki, causing me to lose 1400 life points and take a huge amount of pain. My life points already dropped from 8000 to 6400 with those attacks, and I fell to my knees in exhaustion.

It was now my turn: I got up, although dizzy but I regained my composure and was able to continue with my turn. 'Maybe dueling Marik was a bad idea. But I don't have a rare card for him to take when I lose, and if Yugi or Sunshine were to duel him and lose, not only would Marik have one of the other Egyptian Gods for Yugi or Sunshine to contend with, but if Yugi lost, then Marik would've been able to take over the world. And Sunshine wouldn't even stand a hair of a chance.' I clutched my chest in pain, but toughed through it and drew a card. 'I hope this'll give me a fighting chance.' "My draw." 'Smashing Ground! Yes!' "I activate the spell card Smashing Ground! That destroys the monster you control with the highest defense!" Gil Garth was destroy and Marik lurched back in pain. "And now I summon Legendary Six Samurai – Enishi! Destroy Drillago." I called out. Enishi's sword slices right through Drillago and Marik loses 100 life points. The look on his face told me that it was only a slight pinch. Me 6400. Marik 7900. I scowled. "I end my turn."

Marik's turn: "Heheheh, I've given you a chance to finish me off this turn little kid." [LOL pedobear. Jk] The freaky glowing eye on his forehead started shining brighter. "But now its time to get serious. And I'll do it with this: Tribute Burial!" He said. "NO! NOT THAT!" I've seen that card in action once before on TV. But I knew the effects of it all too well. He took out my Legendary Six Samurai – Mizuho and his Gil Garth and sacrificed them to bring out a creepy monster known as Helpoemer. "I'll place one card facedown and end my turn."

My turn: "I draw!" 'Hm… Hand of the Six Samurai. I'll save him for when he actually plays a kickbutt monster. I can sacrifice him to destroy one of his monsters. But if Helpoemer's effect activates when destroyed by a card effect, I could be screwed…' "Alright… I summon a special type of monster known as a tuner monster: Shien's Squire!" I called out. Everybody, including Marik and especially Sunshine, were all surprised by this new monster that I brought out. "What's a tuner monster?" Mokuba asked in surprise. [LOLOL "Shut up Mokuba and watch." No, JK] "I've never seen that card in your deck Travis!" Said Ricky in definite surprise. "I was just as shocked as you guys are now. And now to bring what I learned from that dream into play." [Hopefully you all know what I mean] "I tune my level 1 Shien's Squire to my level 4 Enishi to synchro summon a new type of monster," Just like what happened in my dream, Shien's Squire disappeared and left one little ball of light representing its level which in turn, turned into the gateway circle that I saw in my dream. Enishi floated into that circle and disappeared himself, leaving behind four balls which represents its level, too. That big pillar of light also appeared as well. 'Alright, so that wasn't a dream?' "Two monsters work together to form a new one. They pool their power and synchro summon the Legendary Six Samurai – Shi En!" Even Marik was visibly surprised at this. "What is that monster?" He asked. "Lets just say… it came to me in a dream." I said.

"Wait, I activate a trap card: Hidden Soldiers! I can only activate it when you summon a monster," [I'm changing it to including special summoning to compensate for the synchro summon.] "That allows me to summon a monster with 4 stars or less. Meet my Plasma Eel. Now I'll activate his special ability: Plasma Grip!" That silver booger clamped onto Shi En and shocked it. And with the purple string connecting Shi En to me, I felt the shock too. But I was able to shake it off and continue my turn. This is for me! Shi En, attack and destroy Helpoemer!" Shi En ran forward with his sword drawn and sliced Helpoemer in half. After its destruction, something was happening. It flew over to my side of the field, landed in my graveyard and stole Hand of the Six Samurai from my hand. "What just happened?" I asked in surprise. "When Helpoemer is destroyed, it goes to the opponent's graveyard and steals a card from your hand at the end of each of your battle phases." He explained. "IT CAN DO WHAT?" I called out in surprise. 'That means I'm not gonna be able to bust out anymore of my new synchro monsters.' "I end my turn." I said in spite. Shi En lost 500 attack points. Me: 6400. Marik: 7400.

Marik's turn: He draws his card. He places 2 facedowns and ends his turn.

My turn: "Really Marik? That's it? Well… my turn." I draw my card. 'No… I can't work with this. Maybe…' "First I summon Shien's Footsoldier in attack mode. Then I activate 2 copies of a card know as Gateway of the Six!" Something that looked like the entrance to a Feudal Era Japanese Dojo appeared behind me. "That was the move I was hoping you would play. You've activated my trap card: Card of Last Will. I have to thank you for allowing me to draw 5 cards, cause I could only activate this when you play 3 or more cards in 1 turn." He said in his usual mocking tone. [I'm changing the effect of that card too to compensate for the effect that it shows in the anime.] "Your welcome." I said. "Next up, another trap card." He said. 'Another one?' "This card is called Coffin Seller." He continued. "What does that do?" I asked. "You'll find out later." He finished. '1 more facedown. Wonder what that one is.' "I end my turn." "Hold on, shouldn't there be 2 of those gateway cards?" Asked Duke. "No," said Yugi. "Even though there's multiples of the same card, the hologram only shows one of the design on the card, but the effect is multiplied by the number of the copies of the card." "Since I have no cards in my hand, Marik, I don't lose one." I said with a sneer. The duel was its toll on me. I was finally starting to feel the effects of the shadow duel. 'Joey, don't worry. I will save you.' "Don't forget that at the end of your turn, losing a card from your hand isn't the only penalty." He was right. Plasma eel was still hooked on Shi En. It lost 500 more attack points, and it was now at 1500 attack points. I felt the shock that Shi En felt for losing his attack points. "Yeah… I'm not taking my monsters for granted anymore." I really did feel dizzy.

Marik's turn: "My move… at last." He said with a mocking voice. "First, I'll place one card facedown on the field," 'No… not another facedown…' "And then I'll activate this: Premature Burial!" He called out. 'Oh no.' "Once I give up 800 life points [Marik: 6600] I'll be able to revive Drillago. But there's still more; I'll sacrifice Drillago so I can bring out this card: Legendary Fiend!" 'That's an ugly monster.' "With only 1500 attack points, our monsters will both be destroyed." I said. "If only my beast didn't get 700 attack points stronger each turn." He said to me. "Aargh!" "One card facedown and I end my turn." [I'm gonna have him activate Negate attack. Just wait.]

My turn: "I draw!" 'Alright! Another Shien's Squire!' "Heh, get ready! I summon another Shien's Squire!" I commanded. "How many of those things does he have?" Duke asked. "Shien's Footsoldier, attack the Legendary Fiend!" I commanded. "He's nuts! His Footsoldier will be obliterated!" Yelled Tristan. "When Footsoldier gets destroyed, his effect activates!" 'It'll be worth the pain!' Shien's Footsoldier was destroyed, I lost 800 life points. Plus 300 from the Coffin Seller trap card. That pain wickedly unbearable. [Jake's at 5300 life points.] I could barely stand or hold up my arms at this point. "When… Shien's Footsoldier gets destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, I can special summon … a level 3 or lower six samurai monster from my deck. I special summon… Legendary Six Samurai – Shinai. And… since I summoned a Six Samurai, both my… gateway cards receive 2 bushido counters each." 'W-why am I getting weaker?' My breathing was starting to become labored and my vision was fading. 'Joey… I don't think I can make it.' "Guys, Travis doesn't look so good." Said Ricky. "D-don't worry… Ricky, I-I'll pull through." I said, though at this point, I was starting to doubt my own survival. Not only am I doubting that I can rescue Joey, I'm starting to doubt if I can save myself. "Shinai, destroy Legendary Fiend!" Shinai was going in for the kill. "Not so fast, I activate a trap!" 'NO!' "Negate Attack. It stops your attack and all other attacks this turn." He said. "F-fine… I end my turn."

Marik's turn: At that point, Plasma Eel's effect activated, dropping Shi En's attack from 1500 to 1000. And causing me even more pain. That did it, now I could barely even feel my own freaking legs. It's like they weren't even there. "Travis you idiot! Don't you have another one of those syncing monsters in your fusion deck?" Tristan called to me. "Oh no! I completely forgot about my gateway cards and Shi En's effect! Hey Marik, can we redo that turn all over? I messed up on some of my strategy." I asked mopily. "No." He said. "Didn't think so." I said. 'Trying to concentrate on the duel and trying to conserve my strength, I completely forgot to activate my gateway cards and Shi En's effect to negate a card once per turn.' "I'm gonna pay for that later." I said mopingly. "That's right." Said Marik. "You'll pay dearly! My draw!" He said. After he drew his card, his Legendary Fiend jumped from 1500 attack points to 2200. 'Great, my samurai lost attack, his fiend gained attack. This is not gonna end well.' I was just doing my best not to collapse.

"Legendary Fiend, lets put poor Shi En out of his misery." He called out. "NOO!" I yelled in fright. Legendary Fiend flew forward, claws out, and slashed and destroyed Legendary Six Samurai Shi En. I lost 1200 from that attack plus 300 from Coffin Seller. "I'm… at 3800 life points now. I don't think I can last much longer in this duel." I lost the strength in my hands and lost my cards. "Sorry you couldn't see your big brother win the finals Ricky." I said sadly. I fell to my knees. "Yugi… beat Marik. Do what I couldn't and save Joey…" As I was falling on the floor, I was able to get a couple last words in, "Good night… guys." Then I fell to the floor, unconscious. "TRAVIS!" They all yelled for me. The monsters on my side of the field all disappeared. The two gateway cards faded away. I lost the duel.


	4. Battle City Part 3

"Talking" 'Travis's inner thoughts' ('Dream sequence' **action**)

(I woke up back on the couch I was laying in earlier. I rubbed my eyes drowsily. Looking around, I saw that I was back at the hideout of The Enforcers. 'I'm back here?' I asked drowsily. A kid with sky blue hair and a purple headband came through the door. 'Hey, your finally awake.' He said. 'I take it your Kalin?' I asked him. 'Yeah. Oh, right. The amnesia. The other guys told me about that.' He said. 'Honestly, I don't think its even amnesia at all.' I told him with a weird tone of voice. 'What does that mean?' Kalin asked me. 'I'm not sure, but it feels like I'm not even supposed to be here.' I looked around and noticed a mirror. When I looked in it I got a big surprise. 'I look exactly the same! What's going on?' It looks like I didn't even age one bit from my time in battle city. 'Hey, get up. We're gonna do another thing. We're hitting the magicians. You in?' Kalin asked me. 'No… I uh… I need to figure things out. Maybe next one Kalin.' I told him. Then he left me to my thoughts. My name is Travis Davies. I have no idea where I am. Crow said I had to be 80 years old to have been in Battle City; I was in it. What does that mean? Am I a robot? Was I sent back in time to prevent something tragic from happening? If I was supposed to stop Marik, I did one hell of a job doing that. Maybe I wasn't supposed to stop Marik. Gee, don't I sound pathetic? But what was it that I was supposed to do? Maybe I failed in my quest and I was sent back here. That's why everything is the same.

**Time passes** 'Kalin your insane! Nothing good will happen if you go against Sector Security.' I told him. 'We need to do this Travis. If we do, this'll finally unite all of Satellite. We have to do this!' He said. He's gone nuts. 'I'm sorry, Kalin, I'm not doing it.' Said Jack. 'I'm with him.' Said Crow. I hesitated, then went with them. 'I'm sorry Kalin, I'm not doing this.

**More time passes** I was involved in a big car crash involving a duel runner. I survived, but my left arm, both of my legs, part of my brain, and a couple of my internal organs, however, are another story.

**More time passes** Yusei's been tinkering with my arm and legs. The part of my brain that was damaged controls my arm and legs, so he figured out how to give me a set of card zones in the arm along with a hologram projector in the part of my chest that was damaged in the crash and anti-gravity devices in my legs. 'I can fly?' I asked him. 'Not exactly. I was afraid that if I put too much power into the anti-gravity devices in your legs, it would shut down mid-flight and you would fall back down to the earth. Or it would put too much stress on your body and would put you into cardiac arrest. So I compensated. I was able to make it so that, in a turbo duel, you can match the speed of the opponent's duel runner. You are a living duel runner! How do you feel?' He said. 'Well, bummed that I can only fly a few feet off the ground but who cares about that part? I'm a duel runner!' I started laughing wildly. 'I feel amazing! Now for the maiden voyage… What do I do?' I asked with a little embarrassment in my voice. 'The part of your brain that was damaged in that crash was replaced with some electronics. That controlled your arm and legs ever since. Now I've hardwired the anti-grav devices and the card zone setup mechanism to that part of your brain. All you have to do is think about it and it'll happen.' He explained to me. Okay, I started concentrating and all of a sudden couldn't feel the ground anymore. 'Whoa, I'm doing it. Cool! Now for the duel arm. Hey, that's a good name for it. Duel arm activate.' I called out. And on cue, a duel monster card slot came out of the bottom of my arm and the rest of the slots came out the sides and and a slot shaped like a block the same dimensions as a dueling deck came up from my arm and a card slot, which I was to guess would be the graveyard slot, opened up in wrist. I was looking at it with a really surprised look on my face. 'That is amazing!')

Back in reality, my hand twitched a little. "Travis!?" Said Ricky to my unconscious body. "Sorry Ricky, that wasn't him. When somebody's in a coma, or unconscious the way Travis is, the body will twitch like that. It's like an unconscious act. But I'm positive he'll fine." Said one of the doctors. "The strange thing is that we couldn't get an IV drip into his left arm. We're also not getting any reaction from the suctions on that same arm or his legs." He continued. "Don't worry Travis, Yugi's dueling Kaiba right now. When he wins, he'll make Marik pay for what he did to Joey and Travis." Said Tristan with passion. "Thanks Tristan." Said Ricky.

[Now back to Travis's happy place. :) ] (**Some more time later** Neo Domino City. What happened that made Satellite? Maybe that's what I was supposed to back in time to change. Hmm… now that I think about it, why would I go all the way back to Yugi's time? Something must've happened after the Battle City tournament. Man… I wish I had my deck with me. Why is it bad for people from Satellite to enter Domino? 'Aargh. I'm bored. I know we aren't supposed to duel in this place, but why is it completely illegal to have cards?' That's right. I went through some pipelines used for garbage but was arrested by Sector Security almost immediately after I got there. I got what they called criminal marks under my eyes. That probably explains those weird marks under my eyes in the present. 'That also explains the M on Crow's forehead.' [For those of you who are lost at this point, or haven't figured it out quite yet, Travis is from the time of the duel runners. The criminal marks under Travis's eyes are the criminal marks received in the first Yugioh 5D's game for the Nintendo DS.]

**Time passes and Travis is released from Security** At least I finally have my deck back. 'Duel arm activate.' Just like before, the card slots came out from the bottom of my arm, the deck slot from the part of the arm behind the wrist, and the graveyard slot appeared under the wrist. 'Hey! Wicked duel disk!' Said a voice from behind me. I turned around to see where the voice came from. 'The name's KENYoU.' He said. 'Hey, I'm Travis. You like?' I asked him. 'Yeah I do. Where do I get one of em?' He asked. 'All you gotta do is remove your arm.' I told him matter-of-factly. 'Are you serious? What happened?' He asked; his voice changing to concern. 'I was in an accident that took my arm, legs, a couple of my internal organs, and part of my brain.' I said; my voice had a hint of sadness in it. 'Oh man, I'm so sorry I asked!' He said apologetically after hearing the story. 'No way. Forget about it. Honestly, I think it's awesome!' I said with a smile on my face. 'The downside is that I can never feel anything ever again with my arm and legs, but I get this wicked duel arm! And I can hover too. But that's for turbo duels.' I told him. He grabbed my arm. 'You seriously can't feel that?' He asked me. I shook my head in response. 'Wow… I think I'll stick with a regular duel disk then. Wanna try it out in a duel?' He asked me. 'You're on!'

'Skilled Dark Magician, destroy his Karate Man!' I commanded. KENYoU's life points went down to 0. 'Wow, your good.' He said. 'Thanks for the duel Travis.' 'No problem. See ya later Ken.' Then we part ways.

**Some time later** That duel was dangerous! **Flashback** 'My draw!' I called out. 'Spell Power Grasp activate! My citadel gains 2 spell counters and Skilled Dark Magician gains 1. Magical Citadel of Endymion has 6 counters and Skilled Dark Magician has 3! Both their effects activate! I can now sacrifice Skilled Dark Magician to special summon Dark Magician from my deck and I can get rid of the 6 counters from the Citadel so I can special summon Endymion, the Master Magician! Destroy Blizzard Lizard!' Endymion destroyed Grady's Blizzard Lizard. 'Dark Magician, attack him directly!' Dark Magician attacked Grady's life points, winning me the duel. And my mark of the Crimson Dragon disappears. 'What just happened? What was that real damage? Glad I won.' **Flashback ends**

**Some more time later** 'Where's Travis?' Asked Yusei. 'I don't know' Said a young man with hair like a Kuriboh wearing a red open blazer. 'Doesn't matter at this point,' Said Yugi. 'He might catch up. Right now, we need to stop Paradox at any cost.')

[Back in Yugi's time] "What happened? Where am I?" I asked after finally waking up. "TRAVIS! You're awake!" Shouted Ricky after seeing me wake up. "Travis? What's wrong man?" Tristan must've noticed my emotionless face. I reached up and touched the tattoos with my left arm. Then I looked at that hand. "Ricky, I have something to ask you." I said to him matter-of-factly. "W-what's wrong Travis?" He asked me. "Do you know where I was born? When I was born?" He looked at me with a nervous look on his face. I was still staring at my hand. "What do you mean?" He asked me. I moved my arm to a horizontal position. "Duel arm, activate!" I said. As if on cue, the card slots appeared, the deck holder appeared on my arm, and a slot for the graveyard opened on my wrist. "What's that?" Duke asked in surprise. "As far as I know, no normal mechanic has the tools to do this. That dream I had felt so real. In it, I was able to do this with my arm. I was in a car accident which also involved a motorcycle. I survived, but a bunch of my body didn't. And these things under my eyes aren't birth marks, they're tattoos. I wasn't born in this time, or in America. [LOL Bandit Keith abridged moment! XD]

"I was born 80 years into the future. I went back in time to prevent someone from killing Maximillion Pegasus and destroying my time. I also have a mark on my other arm, but right now its not there. I must've gone too far cause I ended up in the United States with amnesia and your dad's house, and I sort of just became one of the family. I don't know if I belong in this time or not, but I'll still make the most of it. By the way, is Yugi dueling yet?" I asked them after my expression changed from concerned to content. As if on cue, again, Yugi came around the corner. "Travis, you're awake!" He said. "Yeah. Did you finish your duel?" I asked him. "Yeah I did. And I won. So now I'm facing Marik in the finals." He said. Tristan noticed someone outside. Seeing as it wasn't anyone in the tournament, we all went outside to ask what was going on.

"Hey!" I called to the stranger. "Hello, Travis." He said to me. "Since when, in literally the last 5 seconds, have we been introduced?" I asked him, although a little jackass-y. "My apologies, I have forgotten my manners. You may call me Nicholas." He said. "Okay. Now that introductions are out of the way, you mind telling us how you got here?" Said Kaiba as he exited the blimp. "Ah yes. You see, I'm here because I overheard Travis talk about how he doesn't belong in his time. And I'm here to bring him back to his own time!" His polite demeanor turned into somewhat of a sadistic tone. "Again, my apologies. You see, I have a bit of a bipolar disorder. Please excuse me." He explained. "Hey be nice Sunshine." I said to Kaiba.

"Now you told us why you're here, which won't happen by the way, I guess I can sort of explain how you got here. Would you care to give more reasons as to why you're here?" I asked him. "I have come back in time to bring you back to your own time, as I've said. But I won't force you. Instead, I'll challenge you to a duel. If you win, I'll let you have the choice of whether you want to come with me. Lose and I'll force you to come with me." He said. "And if he were to refuse?" Asked Sunshine. "I'll destroy this island along with everybody on it with the power I possess!" His sadistic personality must've come out. "You can't! Travis don't accept his challenge! Besides, you just woke up from a coma." Tristan called out in surprise. "I can't not do that. If I don't accept his challenge, we're all dead. Joey won't get his soul back either way. I have to duel." I told Tristan. "Fine, just be careful." He responded. "Nicholas, I accept your challenge!" I said to Nicholas. "Fine, but if I win, you must come back to the future with me!" His sadistic voice said. 'Is he gonna use the DeLorean?' I love the Back to the Future movies; ironic, seeing as how I was born in the future. 'Sorry Six Samurais, but my spellcasters are calling out to me.'

"And WHEN I win, you leave! Duel arm, activate!" The card slots, deck holder, and graveyard slot opened up on my arm and a scoreboard with mine and Nicholas's names and a pair of 8000s showed up. "I'll make the first move!" Said Nicholas.

Nicholas's turn: "I draw! To start my turn, I play two cards face-down and I summon Trident Warrior in attack mode. When he's normal summoned, I can special summon Shine Knight from my hand in defense mode." Shine Knight's level went up by 1. "What happened? Isn't Shine Knight a level 3 monster?" I asked him. "When Shine Knight's in face-up defense mode, his level becomes 4." He explained. "What's the point of that?" I asked. "So I can do something you've never seen before. I open the overlay network!" A giant, black whirlpool of stars appeared. "I overlay my 2 level 4 monsters Shine Knight and Trident Warrior to Xyz summon," The galaxy-like whirlpool exploded and out came a monster completely like anybody here has seen. "Number 39: Aspiring Emperor Hope!" [Yes, I'm using the Japanese name. That's so much cooler than Utopia. And yes, I did get the Xyz deck some time before I wrote this chapter. I'm pitting it aganst my spellcaster's command deck.] 2 lights started swirling around that monster. "I'll end my turn at that point." Me 8000 Nicholas 8000

My turn: "It's my turn!" I drew a card. "I place one monster in face-down defense mode." 'I could throw down Magical Dimension. I could destroy his monster, but I should save it for when I draw a stronger monster.' I was about to play throw it down until I noticed his two facedowns. 'Hmm… If one of those cards destroys it, my whole plan is screwed. Magical Blast… during my draw phase, I can return that card from my graveyard to my hand.' I put Magical Dimension back then put Blast down. "I end my turn." I called out. "But before you do, I activate a trap card! Dust Tornado! That destroys your facedown card!" He called out. "It can do what?" I asked in surprise. "Wow, you don't know what Dust Tornado does? I guess you AREN'T as good a duelist as I thought." Said Kaiba. "Hey, easy Sunshine. I didn't realize he would do it that early." Me 8000 Nicholas 8000

Nicholas's turn: "My draw! Emperor Hope, attack with Hope Slash!" He destroyed Crystal Seer. "You've activated my Crystal Seer's special ability. I can pick up two cards and add one to my hand. The other goes to the bottom of my deck. I add Magical Exemplar to my hand." I called out. "I end my turn." He said. Me 8000 Nicholas 8000

My turn: "My turn now! I draw!" I drew my card. "I summon Mythical Beast Cerberus in attack mode!" "You've activated my next trap card: Trap Hole! I can only activate it when you play a monster with more than 1000 attack points. Your beast has 1400 attack points so it's destroyed!" He called out. "I have my own trap set for you. From my hand, I activate the quick play spell card Magical Dimension! I sacrifice Mythical Beast Cerberus to save him from Trap Hole. I can now special summon Magical Exemplar from my hand!" I said. "You just played a card weaker than my Aspiring Emperor. How do you expect to win at this pace?" He asked. "With Magical Dimension! It hasn't left the field yet." I told him. "Fine, what does it do?" He asked. "The next part of the effect states that I can now destroy an opponent's monster!"

The Aspiring Emperor was then destroyed. Nicholas's face went from civil to angry. "And," I continued with confidence. "My Exemplar's effect activates! When a spell card, such as the one I just played to summon her, is activated, Exemplar gains 2 spell counters. Now I activate Spell Power Grasp. Exemplar gains another 2 spell counters plus one more for Spell Power Grasp. Now I can remove 4 spell counters from my Exemplar to bring Mythical Beast Cerberus back from my graveyard! Now my spellcasters, attack his life points directly!" My beast's claws ripped his clothes. "What's going on? My solid vision technology shouldn't cause real damage." Said Kaiba. "Did I not tell you? This is my power. I bring monsters to life. Including my opponent's monsters! Had you not accepted my challenge, I would've used one of the many monsters in my deck to destroy the island." He explained in his sadistic voice. "Just make your move." Me 8000 Nicholas 4900

Nicholas's turn: "With pleasure!" He said as he drew his card. 'It sounds like his sadistic personality is taking him over. One of us needs to lose this duel before something happens.' "First off, I summon Marauding Captain and that lets me special summon Ganbara Knight in defense mode. Next I activate Lucky Iron Axe and equip it to Marauding Captain!" His captain's sword turned into a big axe. "Attack and destroy his mythical beast!" I just smiled, then Mythical Beast Cerberus destroyed Marauding Captain. "What happened?" His sadistic side asked. "When you activated a spell card, my beast gains a spell counter and 500 attack points. But when he's attacked or is attacked, that all resets. And Exemplar gains 2 spell counters from Lucky Iron Axe." I told him. "I activate Swords of Revealing Light! Your monsters can't attack for 3 turns. I end my turn." Me 8000 still Nicholas 4700

My turn: "And with your end, comes my beginning. My draw! I summon Breaker the Magical Warrior. When he's summoned, he gains a spell counter and the ability to destroy a spell or trap card on the field! Destroy the Swords of Revealing Light! Now Mythical Beast Cerberus, destroy Ganbara Knight. Breaker and Exemplar attack him directly!" Breaker's sword ripped Nicholas's shirt enough for Exemplar to blow it off. "That was my favorite shirt. You'll pay for that!" Me 8000 Nicholas [sucks] 1400

Nicholas's turn: "And with this, the paying with start! I activate The Warrior Returning Alive! I add Shine Knight to my hand, who I will now summon in defense mode!" Me 8000 Nicholas [is lame] 1400

My turn: "And with no other card to play, I guess it's my turn now. My draw! I throw down a facedown and end my turn." Me 8000 Nicholas [should just give up already] 1400

Nicholas's turn: "That starts my turn now!" His sadistics side completely took over now. "I summon Feedback Warrior and change Shine Knight to attack mode! Now I open the overlay network!" The galaxy-like whirlpool opened up again, but it wasn't black, it was red and Feedback Warrior and Shine Knight flowed into it. It exploded to reveal a giant dinosaur? "I Xyz summon Grenosaurus! Now attack his beast!" Grenosaurus stomped and destroyed my beast. "And Grenosaurus's effect activates! He absorbs one of the Xyz material monsters and cause you 1000 points of damage!" He called out. One of the yellow lights hovering around Grenosaurus disappeared into it and it blew fire at me. 'Oh no… if monster damage is real… then that fire must be real.' Breaker moved in front of the fire. "What's that?" Asked Tristan. Breaker blocked the fire to keep it from hitting me. "It's Breaker the Magical Warrior's monster spirit. He's protecting me." He looked at me and said, "Do not worry, Travis, I will not let harm come to you in this duel." He said to me. Me 6900 [:'( ] Nicholas [is getting his ass royally handed to him] 1400

My turn: "Alright then, it's my turn then! I activate Fissure!" I called out. "NO!" He shouted in anger. "With Grenosaurus gone, Breaker attacks your life points directly! But first, I activate the trap card Magician's Circle! I can special summon Dark Red Enchanter from my deck! Breaker, Dark Red, and Magical Exemplar attack his life points directly! Since monster damage is real, this has to be real! Dark Red Enchanter, open a portal to whatever time he came from and send him back to it!" Dark Red Enchanter did what I said to do. "This isn't the end! There'll be more of us coming to attempt to bring you back to Yusei Fudo's time! And we'll be ready! The next of us will have decks ready to counter your deck!" He shouted. "Fine," I said in response. "I'll be ready for them! Magical Exemplar, Dark Red Enchanter, and Breaker the Magical Warrior: send him back to where he came from!" The orbs on Breaker's shield and Dark Red's staff lit up in response to a spell Exemplar was chanting. "Attack!" A big ball of purple and white energy appeared and flew towards Nicholas, which then launched him into the portal that Dark Red created. During the whole duel, my arm was burning like crazy. I looked at it and it was the same mark that appeared when I was dueling Grady in my dream. 'The mark of the Crimson Dragon? It does exist? Guess I was born in the future. That dream… what was it supposed to mean?' Me 6900 Nicholas [got totes pwned] 0 biotch!


	5. Battle City Part 4

Battle City

Part 4

"Well… that was certainly an interesting duel." Kaiba said after I defeated Nicholas. "I know. He used monsters I've never even seen before." Joey added. "Travis, the tattoo on your arm. It's back." Yugi said. I looked at my arm. The mark didn't disappear like it did before. "Travis? Are you okay?" Ricky asked me. I didn't answer him though. I was lost in thought. 'I remember everything…' When I was unconscious after my duel with Marik, all those memories from my time, the time where Yusei Fudo came from, rushed back to me. My time with Yusei, Crow, Kalin, and Jack Atlas with the Enforcers, the time I had to help hide Yusei's friends from Sector Security while he dueled Trudge to keep him off our backs, the whole deal with the tournament, Dark Signers, all of it. 'The Crimson Dragon…' "Travis!" Ricky called out to me. That snapped me out of it. "Well, if you geeks are done wasting my time, I have business to get down to." I looked at Kaiba. "What kind of business…?" Yugi asked. "I lost my place in the Battle City finals, thanks to you Yugi." "What are you saying, Sunshine? You no longer have a purpose?" I asked him. "It's time I put this island behind me," He replied. "It's time to blow this island to smithereens."

"DID I HEAR HIM RIGHT?" Tristan shouted. "Even after I spent that time SAVING this place?" I replied. He just ignored me while he walked away. "Come on Mokuba." Ishizu spoke up next. "Kaiba, please reconsider." "Why should I?" Kaiba asked in response. "I lost in my own tournament. I've been disgraced in the same tower where I planned my return to fame." I don't think Kaiba heard me when I said he should smile more after the Duelist Kingdom ordeal. "Kaiba please." Ishizu continued trying to make Kaiba reconsider, to no avail. "Kaiba!" The deeper voiced Yugi called out. "Look Yugi, there's no chance of making me change my mind."

'Maybe I can do something.' "Look, Sunshine… before whatever brought me here… brought me here…" Unfortunately, that part of my memory is still a mystery itself. Hey, I'm like the Pharaoh. Both of us have something about us we're trying to remember. "I was a great duelist. Undefeated even. I was part of a dueling gang with a group of my friends that… actually remind me a lot of you guys. After the gang split, I was a dueling champion. Until I dueled against one of my old friends from the gang in a tournament. That continued HIS undefeated streak, while ending mine. Sure, I was bummed. But I got over it. It just gave me a new goal to look forward to." "Why should I help the duelist I was trying to beat?" I racked that question over and over in my head. "The person, Jack, helped us to save the world." Hang on… if I really did come from the future, then if Kaiba never helped Yugi, then I'd cease to exist. That thought made me grin seconds before Sunshine spoke up. "Fine." Then He pulled a card out of his deck and threw it to Yugi. "That card is the only thing that'll help you Yugi. Let's see if you can put it to its full potential." "Thank you Kaiba." He replied. The rest of them walked into the duel tower, leaving Kaiba, Ishizu, and I. "Travis," Kaiba said. "Don't think that little fairy tale changed my mind. I only gave Yugi that card because I thought it would be interesting to know if he could use it, and how." Then we started walking towards the tower after the rest of the group. "Travis," Ishizu spoke up. "Before Kaiba handed the Pharaoh that card, you smiled." That piqued Kaiba's interest, if only a little bit. "Did you know he was going to give the card?" She asked me. "I might've already said too much already, so let's just say… I had a certain feeling."

We got to the top of the tower in time to see the dueling platform that Marik and I stood on just a while ago rise. Before the duel started though, he took out his millennium rod and the same purple cloud that Marik used against me. "Ricky, I want you to go back to the blimp." I said to Ricky. "No way Travis. If you can handle it, then so can I." He said. I kneeled down to meet him eye to eye. "Now is not the time to be brave. I'm telling you to go back to the blimp." "I'd listen to little Travis, boy. This duel is gonna be very dangerous." Marik said. "For once, I actually agree with the bad guy." That came as a shock even to me. "I don't care Travis. Yugi's my friend, too, and I'm gonna be here for him too." When Ricky made up his mind, it made Kaiba seem flexible. "Alright. I guess there's no changing your mind then." I looked to the stage and saw the Pharaoh and Dark Marik's hosts. "Whoa, what's going on?" Marik looked surprised for a second, but it passed. "It seems our little friend can see the extra bonus I threw in for our duel, Pharaoh." "Leave them out of this!" Yugi called out. "Nonsense. Besides, if you win, my weaker self is destroyed. And considering what he put you and your friends through, I figured it would be a relief. Now let's start this duel with Vampiric Leech! Attack his life points directly!" Marik called out.

"WHAT? Marik, you broke the rules!" I called out. "You can't attack on the first turn." "Ah, but Vampiric Leech can." Marik said in a mocking tone. But that wasn't the worst of it. Part of little Yugi's body was disappearing. Throughout this whole duel, it seemed like Marik's body wasn't going anywhere, but little Yugi's body kept fading away. Eventually, Yugi drew a card, but set it without even looking at it. "Whoa. Such confidence." I said to myself. A couple turns later, Marik summoned the Winged Dragon of Ra with Monster Reborn. 'Oh no…' But for some reason, his body was disappearing and only his eye was left over. "By leaving one life point so the shadows don't take me, I can transfer my life points to my Winged Dragon of Ra! And I can sacrifice my Juragedo to give my Winged Dragon almost 5000 life points!" His Winged Dragon was at 4699 attack points. "Well Sunshine, glad you lost to Yugi, eh?" The rest of Marik actually appeared on Ra's head and fused together. Ra was about to call out an attack and finish Yugi off, until he activated the card he played facedown, which was the very card Kaiba gave him. The attack was reflected back, but the attack didn't even connect because Marik played de-fusion and separated himself from Ra, thereby gaining the life points and avoiding destruction by Ra's attack being reflected. "No… now Marik's at 4700 life points!" Tristan said. "But Ra's back in the graveyard now," I replied. "So now Yugi has a fighting chance."

Unfortunately, his life points didn't because he needed to give 1000 life points, and subsequently part of little Yugi's body, to keep the Metal Fiend Token. Then he used a card I've never seen him use before called multiply to triple the number of Metal Fiend Tokens. He then sacrificed them to summon one of the Strongest monsters in the whole game: Obelisk the Tormentor! "That thing's humongous!" Ricky called out. "What is that?" Ricky asked. "Oh yeah, you weren't there during Kaiba's duel with Ishizu." I said. Marik only had one facedown card to defend him. So Yugi attacked him with Obelisk, causing him 4000 life points of damage, and almost wiping both Mariks out of existence. "Why'd he allow himself to lose so many life points?" Tristan asked. "And now, Pharaoh, I activate a trap monster card known as Metal Reflect Slime!" "That's why!" I said, answering Tristan's question. A big, spiked, silver ball of goo appeared on the field. Marik then summoned a monster that I've never even seen before, ever, and fused it together with the Metal Reflect Token and turned it into a monster that… I give up. I've never even seen half these cards. Marik summoned a monster known as the Egyptian God Slime. Obelisk tried attacking it, but it just went and revived itself.

Then Marik activated Mining for Magical Stones, discarding 2 cards and adding Monster Reborn to his hand. He then used it to revive Ra, again, and tried to use it to destroy Obelisk, but Yugi took a page out of Marik's book and used his own Monster Reborn to revive Slifer the Sky Dragon to take the brunt of Ra's blow. "Way to go Yugi!" Ricky called out.

At that point, we all heard Odion call out Marik's name, "I WILL PROTECT YOU!" I ran over to him and helped prop him up. Except he didn't want it, and kept walking by sheer force of will. Marik kept mocking him and attempting to discourage him. "Just look at you; how sad. If you can stay on your feet for a few moments longer, you'll be able to witness my defeat of the Pharaoh." He kept walking, just as out of breath as I was towards the end of my duel with Marik. He almost tripped, which I took as a sign to try and help him again, but he told me to stay back. "You really should take little Travis's help." A little while later, Marik threw Odion back against a wall, but he got up anyway. "We beat him before and we can do it again!" He was thrown against the railing again by the power of the millennium rod. "You are the one who created him, but you can destroy him!" Marik was about to finish Odion off until he started freaking out. Eventually, the other Marik emerged again and pleaded with Yugi to attack and destroy him. He gave everybody a convincing speech about how he's sorry about what happened. "If only Joey were awake right now." I said to myself. But Marik kept begging and pleading for Yugi to attack him. "All right! I activate the magic card Ragnarok!" Yeah… I give up. "By removing every monster other than the ones I have on the field from play, I can infuse the power of Ragnarok with all my monsters!" I couldn't believe the effect Kaiba's duel disk was doing when Yugi activated Ragnarok. It took every monster Yugi ever played, from the three Knights, to Celtic Guardian, to even Obelisk and Slifer. It was amazing! Slifer even wrapped around Ra, and Obelisk caught him in the mother of all headlocks. Like… Hulk Hogan isn't even that good.

So, the final effect of Ragnarok was to eliminate all the effects of all monsters on the opponent's field then destroy them. Normally, Ra can't be touched by any effects, monster, spell, or trap, but with Ragnarok, let's just say that Ra is all but invulnerable. And an added bonus: since the evil Marik fused much of his body with Ra, that seriously damages his control on his other self. The other Marik took over, leaving the bad Marik in the same boat that our Marik was in. "Doesn't feel so go good now, does it Marik?" I called out to what was left of the other Marik. The… other… Marik… "The other Marik." I said sheepishly. I heard the voice of the evil Marik attempting to plead and bargain with the "good" Marik, but no use. Marik ultimately surrendered the duel to the Pharaoh, his one remaining life point went to zero and the evil Marik, along with the annoying fog, finally disappeared for good. And little Yugi finally returned to normal. But I can still see both Yugis?

Yugi defeated Marik. He won the duel. He saved the world! Marik told us that all the damage done by evil Marik has been reverse. "But wait…" Tristan started to say. "Doesn't that mean…" Even I started to get what Tristan was getting at. "JOEY!" Duke, Tristan, and I all said at the same time. "What?" We heard an all-too-familiar voice say. It was Joey! "You're alright!" Tristan called out. He ran over and grabbed Yugi and Tristan each in a headlock. Marik handed Yugi the millennium rod, ring, and the Winged Dragon of Ra.

And then we made it back to the mainland. Kaiba finally got his wish and destroyed the island an hour after we left, and we even got to watch the fireworks from Yugi's room on the blimp. Kaiba, however, didn't come back with us. He and Mokuba left towards a different direction in his own private jet. I bet none of you can guess what it was. That's right… a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. [A/N: I know you knew that, this is kind of a mix between the series but with an original story and Travis's personal journal entries (or something).]

So, Duke had to leave to promote some game he called Dungeon Dice Monsters and Ricky and I had to leave to get back to America and back to our dad. But not before we stopped off at a card shop to get a new deck. I heard about a whole medley of strategies revolving the water attribute deck.

Anyway, a week later, we got on our plane, "First class Ricky!" I said excitedly, and we ordered two bottles of sparkling cider to celebrate Yugi's victory over Marik in the finals and saving the world. About an hour into our flight, Ricky was sleeping and I was watching a romantic comedy since I was bored out of my mind and it was relatively entertaining at certain points.

All of a sudden, the plane took a bit of a nosedive, and everybody started freaking out. I stepped out into the aisle and activated the duel mode on my arm, summoning Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier and using the power of the Mark of the Crimson Dragon on my arm to make Trishula real. He caught the plane and leveled us out as best as he could.

The whole plane was practically staring at me. "Not to worry everybody," I said, a little embarrassed. "I got everything under control." "Or do you?" I heard somebody say. He stepped out into the same aisle and moved forward towards me. "My name is Gurimo and I've heard quite a bit about you, Travis Davies." I was confused about that statement. "So?" I asked him, the confusion quite clear on my face. "So, if you don't want this plane to crash, I suggest you defeat me in a duel." The passengers started freaking out. Huge note: Never say the plane is about to crash WHILE midair. "Calm down everybody! Please. I'm accepting his challenge." I said. "But answer this, what happened to the pilots?" I asked him. "Our friend here stole their souls and trapped them in these." Another guy, who sounds like he has an Australian accent with hair that looks almost like Sonic the Hedgehog, stood up and held up two cards with weird blue-green stars. 'Master,' I heard yet another voice, but it came from Endymion, the Master Magician. 'Please allow the spellcasters to make up for your loss against Marik.' "Alright. Gurimo, you're on!" I grabbed my deck of spellcasters and placed it into the deck zone on my hand.

My turn: I drew my starting hand. "I'll start off this duel by summoning Defender, the Magical Knight in attack mode!" The little decoration in Defender's shield lit up. "Then I'll place two cards facedown." I pulled Magician's Circle and Twister from my hand and placed them facedown. Then it was Gurimo's turn.

He brought his arm out from behind his back to reveal a weird eyeball on his arm with a screen in the middle and some kind of funky vampire fangs. It was on the same arm as a duel disk. "What is that thing?" I asked him. "Why, this is a duel disk. I understand you've never heard of them as you use this arm of yours to duel, am I right?" He replied. Another… I don't know what that is… unfolded from the body of the disk and revealed five card slots in just about the exact same fashion as the card slots in my arm reveal themselves. "Now… prepare to lose your soul to the Orichalcos!" "My what to the what was that?" I repeated in confusion.

Gurimo's turn: "I summon my Marauding Captain in attack mode. And this young man comes with a special ability. He automatically lets me summon another monster to join him. And I choose Shadow Tamer." Two monsters, one in a cape and armor holding two swords, and a girl with blue hair holding a whip, appeared on the field. "What? Why did you play monsters weaker than Defender?" I asked him in confusion. "Because, the worst has yet to come." He replied. "Oh you are going to love this next move, mate." I heard the Australian kid say. "That's right. This card holds more power than the Egyptian Gods combined." "Well what is it?" I asked Gurimo. "Impatient, are we?" Gurimo replied. "Go ahead and play the card already!" Another passenger said to him. "It is a card that is as old as time itself! The Seal of Orichalcos!" Gurimo called out. "**The Seal of Orichalcos**? There's a card that has more power than the Egyptian God cards?" I asked, the confusion on my face growing ever more. We rose into the air, and a gigantic hole appeared in the roof of the plane. But nothing bad was happening. "What's happening?" I asked again.

"The power infused in this card existed long before you ever came into our timeline, young Travis!" "HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?" I called out. A freaky circle shown from his duel disk, eventually encircling the both of us to the same perimeter as the hole in the plane, then the same weird star that I saw on the cards that other kid help up showed up in this circle. "What's going on?" I demanded from Gurimo. "Your fate is now sealed." "How's that?" The same weird circle appeared on Gurimo's forehead and on the foreheads of Marauding Captain and Shadow Tamer. "The winner may leave this sacred circle; the loser… well, I'm sure you know." 'Oh no… if I lose this duel, I might end up losing my soul!' "Also, while inside the circle, I gain the advantage, as the circle belongs to me. It grants me power and strengthens my monsters." Gurimo's monsters' attack points increased by 500 points! "Marauding Captain's strong enough to take out Defender now!" I called out. "That's right. And now, my Marauding Captain, attack his Defender now!" "Ha! Good thing for my facedown! Activate Twister! By giving up 500 life points, I can destroy your field spell! And without this weird circle of yours, Marauding Captain will be destroyed." Twister's attempt to destroy the Seal of Orichalcos failed, though. "Oh?" He mocked. "WHAT?" "I told you. The Seal of Orichalcos has more power than the Egyptian God cards!" "Oh no! Well thanks for Defender's own special ability! I can remove a spell counter from anywhere on my side of the field to save any of my spellcasters!" I called out. And just like what happened, Defender's shield intercepted Gurimo's captain's swords. "The same can't be said about your life points, however." That's right. I still lose the damage between our monsters' attack points. I'm now at 7400 life points thanks to Twister not being able to destroy Gurimo's field spell. "You'll have to do better than that to defeat me. But for now, I'll place one card facedown, and give you another chance to stop me."

My turn: "My draw!" 'Aw man… Giant Trunade won't work on this Seal.' "I summon Breaker the Magical Warrior! And, just like Defender, he too gains a spell counter upon his summon." Breaker is now at 1900 attack points. "Why thank you." Gurimo said. His trap card was revealed to be Hidden Soldiers. "No!" "Yes! Unfortunately for you, this card allows me to conjure up a creature of ultimate darkness! A monster that derives its very power from the deepest shadows: Makyura the Destructor!" 'Oh man… I remember that card from Joey and Yugi's duels against Marik. "Makyura is also strengthened by 500…" I said. "But no matter, Breaker, attack Shadow Tamer!" Nothing happened at first; I activated a trap card called Magician's Circle. "This card allows me to special summon a monster from my deck with less than 2000 attack points." I summoned Blast Magician in defense mode and Breaker continued his assault. Gurimo lost 600 points with that attack. "I move Defender to defense mode and end my turn."

Gurimo's turn: "Hmph… barely a scratch." He drew a card. "I, on the other hand… activate Monster Reborn to bring back Shadow Tamer." The hologram of Monster Reborn turned into a gateway that allowed Shadow Tamer to pass through and back onto the field. "Thank you, because Blast Magician gains a spell counter." I said with a grin. "No matter, because these silly spell counters won't make a difference, because I am making a triple sacrifice." "**YOU'RE MAKING A WHAT**?" I said in shock. I only know three monsters in all of duel monsters that actually requires three monsters to normal summon them… and Yugi won them all last week. "I sacrifice Makyura the Destructor, Shadow Tamer, and Marauding Captain…" I had a very scared look on my face. After staring down and surviving Ra twice a week ago, I would rather give up dueling for life than face another Egyptian God card. Unfortunately, it's too late to make any kind of decision now, because he just summoned Obelisk the Tormentor. "WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?" I shouted to him. "You'll have to survive his Fist of Fate first!" As if on command, Obelisk attacked Breaker the Magical Warrior. But thanks to Defender, Breaker was spared destruction. My life points, however, took a gigantic hit. A whopping 2600 due to Obelisk's attack points going up to 4500.

My turn: "Travis! Are you okay?" Ricky called out to me from under the arena. "Don't worry about me… how are the passengers?" I asked him. "We're fine." One of the passengers replied. "Just kick his butt Travis!" Ricky finished. "With pleasure." I drew Magical Exemplar. 'Although… with this hand… I'm not so sure how I can…'


	6. The Seal of Orichalcos Part 1

The Seal of Orichalcos

Part 1

My turn: 'Man… I don't know how I can beat this guy with Obelisk…' "I move Breaker to defense mode, place a monster in defense mode, and that's it for this turn." At this point, the mark on my arm was burning. 'I wish the other signers were here with me…'

Gurimo's turn: "I don't like tricks boy. So, whatever you're planning with that facedown monster, I will squash it. Now Obelisk, wipe his monster out!" He threw down a facedown first, then Obelisk did what Gurimo commanded and obliterated the Magical Plant Mandrigola that I placed facedown during my turn. "Thanks!" I called out. "The trick activates anyway! Because now, all my face-up cards that I can put spell counters on gain one each!" Blast Magician now has two, and Defender and Breaker each have one again.

My turn: "It's my draw now!" I drew Old Vindictive Magician. 'Nothing I can do with him…' "So I guess for now, I'll mess up your plans with a little card called Giant Trunade! So, not only does your facedown go back to your hand, Blast Magician gains a third spell counter!" '4800 life points… all I can do is play defense… crap!' I placed Old Vindictive Magician in my hand and set Apprentice Magician on the field.

Gurimo's turn: "Giant Trunade was not a nice trick." He placed the card he set facedown during his last turn then activated Card of Sanctity. "You should feel grateful that I helped you boy." He said in a mocking tone of voice. I drew Magical Dimension, Magical Citadel of Endymion, Dark Red Enchanter, and Spell Power Grasp. 'I could not ask for a sweeter draw!' "I am." I said back to him. "Because, not only have you helped me, SEVERELY I should say, but you also helped my good buddy Blast Magician here. You just gave him his fourth spell counter." Despite being at a major disadvantage, I certainly wasn't feeling like I was at a disadvantage. 'Master,' I heard the voice of Endymion call out to me. 'Trishula said he's having a harder time carrying the plane. He might give out any time. You must finish this duel, quickly.' 'Yeah… tell me about it. With him out, I can't have a fifth monster out…' "Keep your spell counters, Blast Magician. They won't help you any time soon. As for right now, I'll summon Warrior Dai Grepher!" 'Not another monster!' As with Obelisk, Grepher gained 500 attack points. So he went from 1700 to 2200. "None of the monsters in my deck can stand up to either of your monsters now!" "That's right. And since you'll just save your spellcasters, Grepher, destroy Travis's facedown monster!" 'I'm sorry Apprentice Magician…' "You just activated Apprentice Magician's special ability! Now I can set a level two or lower monster from my deck. I get to set Crystal Seer." I said. "Fine then. Obelisk, wipe out Crystal Seer with Fist of Fate!" "This is gonna be interesting." I heard the Australian kid say. Crystal Seer never stood a chance… "Before she's gone, I get to activate her effect." "How many effects does this guy have?" The Australian kid said again. "I got plenty! For Crystal Seer, I get to pull the top two cards in my deck. I get to add one to my hand, but the other has to go to the bottom of my deck. Welcome to fight, Endymion the Master Magician!" I added Endymion to my hand while putting Mythical Beast Cerberus on the bottom of my deck. "Fine then, you've gained another monster. Big deal. I, however, have one more facedown to add to my own arsenal."

My turn: "My draw! And what a draw it is! I activate the magic card Terraforming!" "Why would you do that?" Gurimo asked me. "None of the field spells you add to your hand are of any use to you." "No, but I can add a sixth spell counter to Blast Magician! And last but not least, I can activate another magic card known as Spell Power Grasp! Not only can I add a spell counter to a monster I control, but Blast Magician gains a spell counter because I activated a magic card." I grinned. "Blast Magician gains both spell counters!" "I don't get it." The Australian kid said. "Why are you building up that monster's spell counters?" His eyes got huge. "Unless…!" "That's right." This was where my confidence skyrocketed, pun totally intended. "Now, I think the time is right." Blast Magician looked towards me and nodded, then looked towards Obelisk. "Wait, why is Blast Magician looking at Obelisk like that?" I grinned wider. "Blast Magician! Use the spell counters we've stockpiled and power up your staff for our ultimate attack!" "**What ultimate attack**?" The Australian kid said. Seven of Blast Magician's eight spell counters zipped into his staff. He jumped up into the air while his staff was building up power. He then pointed the staff at Obelisk and blasted a huge stream at him, ultimately destroying him and putting an end to Gurimo's advantage. [A/N I know the god cards can't be destroyed by mere card effects, but Travis put all that work into it. Plus, they cheat in the anime. Shut up!] "And now that the threat to my life points is over, I can finally switch Breaker, Defender, and Blast Magician to attack mode and summon Magical Exemplar! Next up, I activate a magic card called Magical Dimension!" "**NO WAY! WHERE DOES A KID LIKE HIM GET CARDS LIKE THAT?**" The Australian kid called out in exasperation. "I can show you if you'd like to duel me next." I said to him. "Now for my move. By sacrificing Magical Exemplar, I can special summon my trump card: Endymion, the Master Magician! And now for the final part of Magical Dimension's effect: Good bye Grepher!" The sarcophagus featured on Magical Dimension's card art rose up from behind Grepher, swallowed him whole, and disappeared. "And last but not least, since Endymion was special summoned by way of a magic card, I can add Twister from my graveyard to my hand." [A/N I know that's not his effect, I'm just compensating for lack of Magical Citadel of Endymion.]

"Now, Blast Magician, attack directly!" I called out. He blasted a stream of magical energy similar to what he used to destroy Obelisk, but weaker, but Gurimo was ready for it. "I activate Shield Wall!" Four weird looking monsters that look like the Giant Soldier of Stone holding a shield appeared on the field, one of which intercepted Blast Magician's attack. "What just happened?" Ricky asked. "Simple," Gurimo replied. "My Shield Wall just gave me four Shield Tokens." "But I have three more monsters just raring to attack." I said. "But not before I play another magic card called Bronze Knight! That gives me three Bronze Tokens!" "But how?" Ricky asked again. "Each duelist is only allowed five monster card zones and five zones for magic and trap cards." "Ah yes, that is true. But…! The Seal of Orichalcos allows me to use my magic and trap card zones as monster card zones." "YOU CAN'T!" I called out. But he did. Three more tokens appeared, just like he said he was able to do. "You just broke the rules!" "That's the power of the Seal of Orichalcos boy!" 'Aw man! So not only can this stupid seal not be affect by other card effects, but he can also use his magic and trap zones as monster card zones and one of us will lose this duel…' The mark on my arm glowed brighter in response to my newfound determination. "Then I won't lose! Breaker, Defender, and Endymion, attack the three remaining Shield Tokens!" They destroyed the remaining shield tokens and, since one of my monster card zones was full due to Trishula being materialized to hold the plane up, I had to end my turn.

Gurimo's turn: "My turn now! And to start, I play the magic card A Warrior Returning Alive! It allows me to revive my lost Warrior Dai Grepher." 'That's… not good…' "But that's not all. I play the magic of Allied Forces! Not only does that grant my new soldier a boosted 800 attack points, it increases the power of my Bronze Tokens as well!" Warrior Dai Grepher's attack points was increased all the way to "**3000 attack points?**" Ricky called out in shock. "Not good!" "Warrior Dai Grepher… destroy Endymion!" He rushed forward, but I was forced to give up one of Defender's spell counters to save Endymion. Of course, my life points weren't saved. I still lost 300 life points. I was all the way down to 4500. "Fine… you may be able to save your monsters, but your life points are another story. Bronze Tokens, direct all of your attacks on Blast Magician." I was forced to use Defender's effect three times by giving up three of Blast Magician's spell counters. That dropped me all the way to 3300. "Hmph… make your move. It'll be your last."

My turn: "Better make this draw count…" 'Oh no! I can't draw! My hand won't pick up the card!' I started to silently freak out. 'What if I draw the wrong card? I'm doomed…' 'Master,' The voice of Endymion played in my head again. 'You will draw the right card. Put your faith in your deck.' 'But… I don't know if I can… After my duel with Marik, my faith in my deck just shattered… I don't know if I can do it.' The mark on my arm, however, begged to differ, but why did it disappear from my arm?

[80 years into the future]

Jack Atlas was sitting at his favorite coffee shop enjoying a cup of coffee while Crow Hogan was yelling at him. Their marks started glowing. "What's going on?" Crow asked. "None of us is in a dangerous duel." Meanwhile, at a different part of town, Yusei WAS dueling, but just to save some kids from being expelled; however, his, Akiza's, and Luna's marks did the same thing that Jack and Crow's marks did. They started glowing, but disappeared as well. "Are Jack and Crow in a dangerous duel?" Akiza asked Luna. "I don't think so." She replied. "But HE is. And he needs our help."

[Back in the present]

'I feel something on my back.' I looked at my back to see a big dragon looking mark, along with my mark which looks like a flame. Then I had an epiphany. 'That's… the Crimson Dragon! He's real? Then… that means my dream and my body aren't a coincidence. The Crimson Dragon has transcended the boundaries of space and time to help me in this duel!' I looked at my deck. "I get it now!" At last, I drew my card. I couldn't believe my eyes! It was the very card that I actually needed! The one card that could win this whole duel for me! "I need to play this right though!" Gurimo looked worried. "What are you talking about?" "This!" I replied with sheer confidence in my voice. "First off, I activate the magic card Twister, the card I pulled from the graveyard with Endymion's effect!" [A/N Again, I know that's not exactly Endymion's effect, I was only compensating.] "But why? You already tried destroying the Seal of Orichalcos at the beginning of our duel and it didn't work, remember?" Gurimo said, looking worried again. "Good thing I'm not targeting the Seal of Orichalcos." "YOU AREN'T?" "No! I'm targeting The A. Forces!" By dropping my life points by 500 again, Twister blew The A. Forces right off the field. "And there goes Grepher's advantage!" Grepher's attack dropped back down to 2200, and the Bronze Tokens dropped down to 1000. My life points were now at 2800. 'I have to start being frugal with my life points now.'

"And now, the card that'll win me this duel!" Gurimo's face went from worried to anxious. "Show us! Now!" "What is he getting on about?" The Australian kid asked. "This!" I called out. "The card that I drew with a little help from some faraway friends: The magic card Diffusion-Wave Motion!" "**FORGET MAGICAL DIMENSION!**" The Australian kid shouted, frightened. "**WHERE DID HE GET THAT CARD?**" "At the cost of 1000 life points, Endymion is allowed to attack every single monster on your side of the field!" I called out. "**HE CAN DO WHAT?**" Gurimo, Ricky, and the Australian kid all shouted at the same time. Endymion raised his staff and a whole bunch of purple waves of pure magical energy shot out of the orb at the tip cutting the three Bronze Tokens and Warrior Dai Grepher apart. "I can't believe it!" "And, for each monster destroyed, you take damage to your life points equal to the difference between the attacking monster and every one of the targets' attack points!" "**THAT'S 5600 LIFE POINTS!**" That SEVERELY damaged Gurimo's life points. And I am not sugarcoating this, folks. His life points dropped all the way from 7400 to 1800, tying the scores between us. Gurimo started laughing maniacally. "You said that was the card that was gonna win this duel for you! But I'm still standing!" He called out to me. "That may be, but I promise you. I will win next turn."

Gurimo's turn: "We'll see about that. But for now, it's my turn." He drew his card and immediately played it. "Vorse Raider in attack mode! And thanks to the Seal of Orichalcos, his attack points go from 1900 to 2400! Attack that measly Blast Magician!" He dashed forward and was almost about to destroy Blast Magician, but Defender's effect saved him. By relieving Blast Magician of his final spell counter, he was saved from destruction, but I still took 1000 life points. I ended up with 800 life points.

My turn: "NO!" Gurimo shouted in frustration. "Yes! It's my turn now!" I didn't even need to draw this turn, but I had to to start my turn. I drew Mythical Beast Cerberus. "Now Endymion the Master Magician, attack Vorse Raider with Magical Blast!" Endymion destroyed Vorse Raider, knocking off 300 of Gurimo's life points, but more importantly, leaving him wide open for a direct attack. "And now, Breaker, Defender, and Blast Magician, attack Gurimo's life points directly!"

I did it. With that last attack, I knocked Gurimo's life points down to 0 and won the duel. As we were sinking back down to the plane, Gurimo was screaming for somebody to forgive him. But the Seal of Orichalcos closed in on him then disappeared, leaving him to fall over. "Whoa! Is he dead?" All of a sudden, the plane dipped down again. 'Trishula's too weak to continue.' I heard Endymion's voice in my head again. 'He disappeared.' "Oh great!" I used the hover tech in my legs and floated so I don't fall. "Well, mate, a deal's a deal." I heard the Australian say as he and Gurimo's body were sliding down towards the front of the plane. "Anyway, I hate to duel and run, but we gotta fly." 'Oh no you don't!' I dropped towards the front myself, and tried reaching for them as they were jumping out, but all I was able to grab from them was the weird rock that was hanging around Gurimo's necklace. Then I pulled the door closed before something bad happened. At last, the plane evened out and all the passengers started cheering and congratulating me. I went into the cockpit and asked the pilots to take us back to Domino City, which they said they would.

So then I sat back down next to Ricky while people were congratulating me, and stared at that weird rock that was around Gurimo's neck. "So what do you think the deal was Travis?" Ricky asked me. "I'm not sure… but I have a feeling Yugi's involved. And if whoever Gurimo and that Australian kid were in league with has the other two Egyptian Gods, then it's up to Yugi to save the world. Again. And Ricky, you and I are gonna help him." "I don't know about me, Travis. What if I lose a duel with that seal thingy?" Ricky said. "Then I'll just have to save you, THEN the world." I joked. Ricky misunderstood because then he started to tear up. "Relax, Ricky. I'm just kidding. You won't lose." Ricky started to calm down. "Really?" "Of course." I said, messing with his hair a little. "I saw you duel back in Duelist Kingdom. And if you don't forget that awesome strategy I showed you when we were back in America, they won't stand a chance."

About half an hour later, the plane landed back in Domino and Ricky and I… had absolutely no idea where to go. "Now what?" He asked me. "Well, first thing we have to do is find a way to get a hold of Yugi." After I said that, Ricky screamed. "GEEZ RICKY!" I turned around to find whatever bug is there since Ricky is deathly afraid of bugs. Boy… no wonder he's afraid of bugs. I almost started to freak out myself because we were staring down the mother of all insect types: the Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth. "No wonder the lobby was cleared." I said. All of a sudden, a whole bunch of other insect type monsters appeared in the lobby. Ricky and I hightailed it with our luggage faster than Crow summoning his Blackwings.

Soon after that, we found Yugi's grandpa's Game Shop. "Hello, how can I…" He started to say after we walked in until he saw us. "TRAVIS?" "Hey Gramps. Is Yugi home?" I asked him. "He's upstairs with Joey, Tristan, and Téa. Who's this?" He asked back. "My little brother, Ricky. Ricky, this is Yugi's grandfather and the owner of this game shop." While Ricky asked Gramps about dueling tips and cards, I ran upstairs in time to see Yugi, Joey, Tristan, and Téa leave. "Travis?" Tristan said in confusion. "So, you came back to help us, eh?" Joey finished. "What are you talking about? I was in a weird duel against somebody who was using Obelisk Yugi." The Pharaoh took his place. "Then it's just as I feared," He said. "Somebody is misusing the power of the god cards." "What's that weird stone you're holding, Travis?" Tristan asked. "I pulled this from the duelist I faced before I came back here. This thing glowed when he played a card called the Seal of Orichalcos." I said, looking at the stone and flashing back to my duel with Gurimo. "DID YOU SAY THE SEAL OF ORICHALCOS?" Joey called out in shock. "Uh… yeah?" "That card almost beat Yugi!" Tristan continued. "If it wasn't for my friends from the future, I would never have won." I said, almost uncertain.

My faith in my deck is still a little shaken. "Hang on…" I mumbled. "This… this all seems really familiar." "How's that?" Gramps asked. "Back in my time, I read up on history and it said that somebody by the name of Professor Arthur Hawkins discovered the lost city of Atlantis." I looked at the stone I pulled from Gurimo. "And I have a feeling he'll know what's going on." A while later, while we were looking for Professor Hawkins, we ran into Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood. Joey and Tristan grabbed them and almost started shaking them until Yugi convinced them to let them go. "Wait, what's going on?" I asked Yugi. "Remember my first duel involving that weirdo card?" Yugi replied. "Not really, since I wasn't there. But continue." "There were these weird biker thugs who were holding Rex and Weevil's souls hostage." 'That's just like those pilots on the plane.' Anyway, Yugi asked Rex and Weevil all that they did yesterday, and Weevil explained all about how they ran into somebody who challenged them using the Seal of Orichalcos. "Did you say the Seal of Orichalcos?" I asked them. "Somebody almost beat me and Yugi using those cards." Rex looked at Yugi. "You?" "Travis, maybe, but not the King of Games." I effortlessly picked Weevil up by the collar of his shirt with my dueling arm. "I have a robot arm and two robot legs, Bug-for-Brains. I will not hesitate to drop you." Weevil had a scared look on his face so I set him down. Then we walked away and continued on looking for Professor Hawkins. "Does he really have a robot arm?" I heard Rex asked, just barely out of earshot. I activated it then played Poseidra, the Atlantean Dragon, one of the new cards I bought before I dueled Gurimo, just two scare them.

"So Travis, tell us more about your future pals." Joey said. I was just about to when we were interrupted by a little blonde girl with glasses who looks like she wants to be grown up run over and give Yugi a big hug. "Whoa! Who's she?" I asked. "No idea." Tristan said. "Yugi?" Téa said. Then the girl held up a familiar card. "Yugi, is that the Ties of Friendship card you received after you beat Pegasus?" I asked him. "Yep," The girl replied earnestly. "Yugi-poo gave it to me after I beat him in a duel." Yugi blushed while I started to giggle until I realized what she meant. "Wait… she beat Yugi?" "Well, Yugi would've won if he didn't surrender the duel." Tristan said. "I remember now, you're Rebecca!" "You look different though." Joey continued. "Yeah. She traded in her teddy bear for glasses." Tristan said again. "Then she grabbed Yugi's arm. "I don't need a teddy bear as long as I have a boyfriend to protect me." Ricky frowned, but we didn't pay much attention, because I was too busy being scared by Téa's angry face. "Come on, Téa. Let's go listen to my story about my time in the future." I said to her. "My grandpa wants to see you, Yugi." Rebecca said. "Some old guy wants to see us?" I asked, confused. Ricky piped up. "Now I remember you!" He said. "You beat me in the finals of that Youngster Tournament! Travis, this kid isn't just a kid, she's the granddaughter of a famous researcher, Arthur Hawkins." "How would you know that?" I asked him. "Mr. Muto told me."

About a half hour later, we found ourselves at a museum, though I was still curious as to how Ricky entered a tournament for younger kids when I don't even remember him in any of the tournament listings. There was a big rock there but it was frozen. "What's with the big popsicle?" I asked. Then Gramps and another guy turned around. "Yugi Muto." The guy said. "Just the guy I wanted to see." "You're Arthur Hawkins?" I asked. "Yes I am." "I've heard about you. You discovered the Lost City of Atlantis." I pulled the weird rock I got from Gurimo out of my pocket. "You wouldn't know what this is, would you?"

After he explained it to us, he looked back at the popsicle. "Yugi, you share a bond with a 3000 year old ancient spirit." "Whoa. 3000 years old?" Ricky asked in surprise. "I've spent the latter part of my career studying duel monsters. It started as more than just a game." "Yeah," I interrupted him. "3000 years ago, ancient kings played a game of great and terrible power, which erupted into a shadow game that the ancient pharaoh locked away. It was said that the pharaoh also placed a spell on himself that locked away his own memories." Rebecca kicked me in the leg, which obviously didn't hurt. At all. "Never interrupt a great man!" Then she looked confused. "Didn't that hurt?" She asked, confused. "Nope. Robot legs." I said with a grin. "Whoa, what happened?" "I'll tell you later." "Anyway," Professor Hawkins said abruptly, while handing us some photographs. "I believe that duel monster didn't originate 3000 years ago, like everybody was led to believe, but much, much longer than that. And I also believe that we live close to another world, one where duel monster spirits reside." I was staring at him in disbelief. I mean, I knew Luna and I could communicate with duel monster spirits, but I never knew they were that way in this timeline too. "Give me a break, you loon!" Tristan called out. 'Bad idea.' Then Rebecca kicked him as hard as she could in the leg, while scolding the hell out of him. 'Called it.' "Don't worry, I'm no stranger to ridicule." Professor Hawkins said.

"I believe you." I said. "You do?" Rebecca replied with curiosity. "Yeah. Coincidentally, that's the same reason I have these robot limbs." Professor Hawkins, Rebecca, and Gramps all stared at me. I seemed a little bashful about that, but I continued anyway. "See, I'm not really from here. I come from the future. Though… how I got here is still fuzzy." I held up my left arm and activated the duel feature. "I was in a motorcycle accident once while testing one of my friends' machines called a duel runner and I bailed. Hard. I lost this arm and both my legs, among… other parts. The good news is that I was able to have a surgery that gave me a robot arm, legs, and they fixed the other parts too. My friend, Yusei Fudo, was able to rig my arm and legs with a duel platform and hover technology." I took out Endymion and placed it on one of the platforms, where he showed up looking in our direction; the power my Mark of the Crimson Dragon give me allowing him to be real. "Say hello Endymion." He bowed down like a respectful… whatever another word for respectful person would be. "Hello there everybody," Everybody, but Professor Hawkins, started freaking out about Endymion talking. "I am Endymion, the Master Magician. Everything Professor Hawkins has said is all true." He then faded away as I deactivated the duel function on my arm. "WAS THAT A TALKING DUEL MONSTER OR AM I DREAMING AGAIN?" Joey freaked.

Before leaving, Professor Hawkins asked me for that rock I showed him earlier, and I handed it to him. Rebecca was still hugging Yugi, but then gave him a kiss on the cheek before hopping into the cab; Yugi started blushing like crazy, Ricky got bummed out again, and Téa had a look on her face that showed both anger and jealousy. "Come on, Téa. Let's go and hear the rest of my story, okay?" After a moment, I heard a voice. 'Please! Help me!' She said. "Whoa, you guys hear that?" I asked. "Yeah." Yugi said. "I didn't hear anything." Tristan said. Everybody but me and Yugi started walking away. "Yugi, please tell me you heard that voice too right? I'm not just going insane, am I?" I asked him. "Not unless we both are."

Later that night, Ricky and I were staying over at Gramps' game shop because I, in all the confusion of what happened today, forgot to rent a hotel room. Ricky was fast asleep and I was just barely starting to, when I heard the deep voice of the Pharaoh ask Yugi if he couldn't sleep. "Aw, and I was just starting to myself." The Pharaoh looked at me. "Wait, can you see me like this?" He asked me. "Yeah… have been for a while now. I think it has to do with the mark on my arm. It grants me special powers, though sometimes… it burns. Literally." "I can't either," Yugi said. "I can't stop thinking about what Professor Hawkins said." "You too, huh?" I asked him. "If what he said is true, this may be our toughest fight yet." "Yeah, you can say that again." I said. "And don't worry, Yugi. With you, the Pharaoh, and Joey and I working together, nothing, and I mean nothing, can stop us." I finished with pure confidence.


	7. The Seal of Orichalcos Part 2

The Seal of Orichalcos

Part 2

Ricky was snoring, I couldn't sleep, and then I heard the voice of the Pharaoh. "Travis, if you can sleep through that, then I applaud you." "Are you kidding me? This is the first time I've slept in the same room as him." Then it was Yugi's turn to speak up. "Could've fooled me, Travis." I looked at them from over my shoulder and laughed a little. "Oh believe me, sometimes he keeps us up half the night."

All of a sudden, Yugi's puzzle shines and then I ended up in some weird M.C. Escher painting for one of the strangest reasons I will never be able to explain. Along with Yugi and the Pharaoh. "Yugi…?" I asked him a little nervous. "Do you know why we're in an M.C. Escher painting?" He turned to the Pharaoh, who was looking down at the floor. "It's not often anybody else but me visits the millennium puzzle." The pharaoh interrupted him. "This place is what holds my memories." He explained to me. "No matter where I go, I can never seem to unravel the mysteries of my past." 'Deep…'

A few seconds later, we heard a voice exactly like the one I heard at the museum. "It came from over there!" Yugi called out and we all ran over to a door, hoping that was where the voice was coming from. Nothing. So we split up and started going through all the doors we came across. Nothing. Again. A red dragon looking thing then appeared somehow and helped me by leading me towards the sound of the voice, then disappearing when we get to it; the two Yugis joined me a few moments later following a Kuriboh. "Is that a Kuriboh?" I wondered in confusion. "The voice came from in here." Yugi said before the Pharaoh opened the door. It felt like we fell down a slide and ended up outside again, but we were floating above a castle. "What is that? Pharaoh… is that your castle?" I had no idea what was going on. Then again, after Marik, nothing will have surprised me anymore. "Wait…" He replied. "We're not alone." Yugi and I looked in the direction the Pharaoh was looking and we saw a giant eye having a staring contest with us. "What's with the giant eye and why isn't it blinking?" I said. "Oh no!" "I don't think it's friendly…" The Pharaoh then Yugi said.

All of us started glowing and we flew down to the castle where we ended up in a room that housed a bunch of crystal statues in the shape of dragons. "What's that?" "They appear to be dragons." The Pharaoh said. "Those are huge!" Yugi said. "Glad they're statues." I placed a hand on the one we were hovering in front of. "It's not a statue…" My thought was interrupted by the same voice we kept hearing a lot. "You're here!" I turned and saw… "Is that the Dark Magician Girl?" "I knew you'd find me!" Dark Magician Girl called out. "What is going on?" "Why were you calling out for us?" The Pharaoh asked Dark Magician Girl. "Our worlds are in danger. We need your help if we are all going to survive. And Travis, you'll be needed to help the Pharaoh in his quest too. That's why I willed you here too." I looked at my arm. "So it wasn't an accident that I followed Yugi and the Pharaoh here?" DMG shook her head. "You have a connection to duel monsters. The power of the Crimson Dragon will help you save the world." I ignored the fact that she knows about the Crimson Dragon and grinned. "I already saved the world once. I don't mind helping again."

"Something is threatening the survival of our worlds, so we must call upon you to help save it." DMG continued explaining. "A gateway opened up above the sky, bringing the Great Beast into existence. Behind you are the keys to the world's survival." We all turned to the dragons. "So… we each get one?" There were three dragons there, so I figured Yugi, the Pharaoh, and I would each get one. "No. Yugi and the Pharaoh share a body, so they get one. Unfortunately, though your skills are great, you aren't one of the chosen duelists." 'That's kind of a bummer…' "But Yugi, you and the Pharaoh are." Endymion the Master Magician made an appearance. "Travis," He said. "You, Yugi, and the Pharaoh have a tough mission ahead of you. I am here to offer you my assistance. I fought alongside the Legendary Dragons at one point. And I shall be at your side to fight against this threat. Yugi, you and the Pharaoh must free the Eye of Timaeus from his crystal prison." They did as Endymion said and freed the dragon by pulling out a sword. "Eye of Timaeus! We need your help!" They said at the same time.

Before I knew it, we woke up back in Yugi's room. "Whoa… is it morning already?" I looked at Ricky, who was snoring just as loudly as before. "Nope. Ricky's still asleep." I was tempted to hold his nose closed to wake him up, but there was a light that attracted my attention. "Whoa, is that a Borealis?" Then I saw some monsters… Yugi and I ran out and saw Gramps admiring the light too. "Seems like the monsters are trapped in the light." "Wait! That's like what I saw at the airport!" Yugi and Gramps both looked at me. "Yugi, remember that strange seal our opponents used against us before I got here?" "Yeah." He said a confused nod. "I was in an airplane and, after I defeated my opponent, we landed back in Domino Airport. But the weird thing was that it was being overrun by insects." Yugi and Grandpa looked shocked; Yugi a whole lot more so than Grandpa. "Did you say insects?" Grandpa asked me. "Yeah. Ricky nearly fainted, but yeah. Real insects." Yugi looked confused more than shocked now. "Wait, real insects? Insect type monsters?" I nodded. "I don't like referring to them as types, but yeah. Ricky was even having a staring contest with the Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth. He nearly fainted." "What does this mean?" Yugi asked while looking up at at the weird light. "Could have something to do with that Seal of Ori… whatever it's called." Ricky said behind us; he was carrying a duel disk like Yugi. I was a little concerned about why he was carrying a duel disk and confused about where he got one. "Don't worry Travis, I'm a good duelist. I can take care of myself just fine." I still looked a little worried. "If you don't believe me, we can duel again to make sure." I looked towards Yugi and he and Grandpa agreed with Ricky. "It would be a good way to keep up his skills." Yugi said. "And it would also be good to put those new strategies I taught him to the test." Grandpa finished. Yugi started to walk away, "I'll go on ahead to see what's going on. I'll call you when I get anything." Then he rushed off leaving Ricky, Grandpa, and I there. Ricky activated his duel disk and I put my dueling arm into position.

Ricky's turn: "Alright, just like last time, I'll make the first move." He drew his card then immediately played it. "I activate the magic card Hand Destruction!" "Great… now we both have to discard then draw two cards." I sent Pitch-Black Power Stone and Field Barrier to the graveyard and drew Giant Trunade and Magical Citadel of Endymion. "Next up, I'll place a card and a monster both facedown and activate Card Trader and Prohibition." He smirked after activating Prohibition. "So what card am I not allowed to activate?" I asked him, waiting for him to make his move. "I remembered your duel on the plane. You have that diff… diff…" He was stuttering, trying to remember the name of the card. "Diffusion-Wave Motion?" Grandpa suggested. "Yes! That's the one." I sneered at Grandpa. "Thanks…" "I think that's enough punishment for now." Ricky said, ending his turn.

My turn: "Okay… my draw!" I drew Magical Blast and added it to my hand consisting of Swords of Revealing Light, Skilled Dark Magician, Dark Red Enchanter, Giant Trunade, and Magical Citadel of Endymion. "I summon Skilled Dark Magician then activate Magical Blast. You lose 200 life points for all of my Spellcasters." Ricky's life points dropped to 7800 and Skilled Dark Magician gained a spell counter. "Now my magician attacks!" Skilled Dark Magician launched a blast of power similar to the Dark Magician's Dark Magic Attack and destroyed Ricky's Green Gadget. "You realize you would've had a better chance of summoning him, right?" "Don't worry," Ricky said, smirking again. "Cause now it's time to go back in time a turn with Time Machine!" 'Taking a page out of Bandit Keith's book, eh?' A big machine appeared out of nowhere and Green Gadget came back in defense mode. "But, I won't activate his effect."

Ricky's turn: "As for now, I'll draw! I activate the effect of Card Trader, sending one card from my hand to the deck, shuffling, and drawing another card." He put the card he drew in his hand and set a card. 'What did he draw?' "I end my turn.

My turn: I drew a card, but was confused about his move. 'Why didn't he play another monster? He knows I'm gonna attack…' "First off, I activate Terraforming! That allows me to add Mystic Plasma Zone from my deck to my hand, which I'll then activate!" That gave Skilled Dark Magician two extra spell counters, along with darkening the field a little. "But why?" Ricky asked me. Grandpa's eyes went wide. "What's Skilled Dark Magician's effect?" He asked. I grinned as a circle similar to the Spellbinding Circle appeared below Skilled Dark Magician, while the latter sunk into the circle. "By sending Skilled Dark Magician to the graveyard while he has three spell counters, I can special summon his master: the Dark Magician!" Grandpa had a shocked look on his face; Ricky just looked confused. "But how?" Grandpa asked. "Only Yugi has the skills to command the Dark Magician." "Ah, but this is a different Magician. Yugi's not the only one with a Dark Magician." I pulled a card out of my deck. It was a different copy of the Dark Magician. Instead of having his hand on his hat, he's more of a blonde Magician with green skin. "It's true!" Grandpa said. "There IS another Dark Magician." "Yeah there is. I kept this one pretty close to me while I was in the future. So much so that when my original Spellcaster deck disappeared, this Dark Magician stayed with me. This copy and I… we have a better bond than I do with the rest of my Spellcasters. Back in the future, I bought this card when I was a kid and he's helped me out more times than I can imagine. Now, attack Green Gadget with Dark Magic Attack!" My Dark Magician zapped Green Gadget with a purple and green stream of energy, but Ricky was ready, "I was waiting for something like that!" "You were?" Grandpa and I asked at the same time. "Of course, I thought you'd had a monster like that in that deck somewhere, so I threw down Compulsory Evacuation Device!" I was both shocked and impressed. "Well I got nothing else to do, so I'll have to end my turn."

Ricky's turn: "Finally." He pulled a card from his deck. "Aw not again… I use the effect of Card Trader." Just like before, he put the card he just pulled back to his deck, shuffled, and drew again. "I guess Green Gadget will attack you directly!" Green Gadget did a straight shot to my chest, knocking off 1400 of my life points. "Good job Ricky." He ended his turn.

My turn: So the board is now with Ricky in the lead with 1200 more life points than me. I drew Magician's Circle, but I couldn't do anything else with the cards in my hand, so all I could do this turn was set Magician's Circle and end my turn.

Ricky's turn: "I use the effect of Card Trader again." He grinned big. First time we dueled and he drew a good card, he had that same goofy grin. "Not good…" "I send Machina Fortress and another machine to the graveyard." I was confused. "Confused? Now I can revive Machina Fortress from the graveyard." "I taught you that… guess I can't be too mad then." That was until I realized Ricky's next move. "Oh no…" Machina Fortress and Green Gadget both attacked me, knocking my life points down to 2700. "I think I'll end my turn with a facedown."

My turn: 'Wow… Ricky got better.' I drew a card. 'No… not Spell Power Grasp…' "I activate Swords of Revealing Light! And now you can't attack for 3 more turns!"

Ricky's turn: "I'll beat you before then. You know I will." He drew a card. "I think I'll skip Card Trader this turn. But for now, I'll summon Heavy Mech Support Platform! Now to attack!" I was confused again. "But… my swords…" "Oh, I know a way around that. Activate Ceasefire! It takes all the monsters on the field and flips any facedowns. Then, for any effect monsters, you lose 500 for each one." 'Oh crap…' And THAT knocked me down from 2700 to 1200. "Now, since Heavy Mech Support Platform is a union monster, I can equip it to Green Gadget, increasing his attack points to 1900."

My turn: 'Good thing Ricky can't attack…' I drew Hannibal Necromancer. 'Great… at least he'll gain more attack points.' "I summon Hannibal Necromancer! Just like your Gadget, Necromancer gains 500 attack points due to the field spell. And now Necromancer will attack!" "Why though? Necromancer will only get destroyed." Ricky said confused. "But if that's the way you want to lose the duel… be my guest." Necromancer's attack was stopped inches before it hit Green Gadget, who was guarding for the inevitable. "Wha?" Ricky said, again confused. "I activated the trap card Magician's Circle." Necromancer's attack was stopped, to which Green Gadget breathed a sigh of relief. "Magician's Circle allows me to special summon a Spellcaster with 2000 or less attack from my deck. I choose Disenchanter!" A redheaded Spellcaster appeared behind Green Gadget and finished off what Necromancer was about to start. Unfortunately, Green Gadget survived due to a union monster sacrificing itself when the monster it's equipped to is attacked. "And now Necromancer will finish what it started." And then Hannibal Necromancer clawed at Green Gadget, finishing off Green Gadget and hitting Ricky's life points for 600, sending him down to 7200. 'Aw man… 6000 life point difference… great.' "I end my turn."

Ricky's turn: "Well… since I can't really attack this turn," He drew his card and set it facedown. "That's it. I end."

My turn: "Time to start my turn." I drew Royal Magical Library. "Hey Ricky, I said 3 turns right?" He nodded, "Yeah?" "My mistake. I meant to say 5 turns. I activate Giant Trunade! That returns all magic and trap cards back to the owners' hands. And with Mystic Plasma Zone back in my hand, I can summon Royal Magical Library, then play Magical Citadel of Endymion!" A bright light appeared above our heads, practically blinding us, but then a big outdoor temple-like field appeared, with Ricky and I standing on pillars facing each other, and Grandpa practically floating in midair. "Wow, this is kinda pretty." Ricky said out loud. "And my Library also gains a spell counter."

Ricky: "Well then I'll just have to set this card again. And seeing as how I can't attack, I'll end my turn again."

Me: "If we're just gonna be drawing and ending, one of us might as well quit." I said to Ricky. "We already know you've gotten better from Duelist Kingdom." "No way!" Ricky said. "I got better training with this deck and I want to see how well I can run it." No arguing with that. "Well then all I can do this turn is switch my Library to defense mode and end my turn."

Ricky: "Well I'll just go ahead and activate Card Trader again, if you don't mind." I just shrugged. It gives my Library its third spell counter, so why not?

Me: "Well you wanted to draw this duel out, so I'll play Breaker the Magical Warrior! When he's summoned, he gains a spell counter and the ability to destroy a magic or trap card. So goodbye Card Trader. Next up, if Royal Magical Library would be so kind. By giving up three spell counters, I get to draw a card." I drew Spell Power Grasp, so I activated it and gave it to my Citadel, plus it gains a spell counter since I played a magic card. "Now that my Citadel has four spell counters, I'll end my turn."

Ricky: "And now it's my draw!" He grinned again. "I studied your strategies, and I'm not gonna fall for Giant Trunade again, so I'll activate Prohibition and prevent you from playing Giant Trunade again." "Thanks. My Citadel gains another spell counter." "Okay," He said. "I'll just end my turn.

Me: "I sacrifice Hannibal Necromancer and Disenchanter to summon Dark Magician again! Sorry Dark Magician, but I have to Sacrifice you to destroy Machina Fortress." He just looked at me and gave me a reassuring nod. "Attack!" He rushed towards Machina Fortress, aiming to whack him with his staff, but Ricky activated Dimensional Prison. "NO!" I called out. Dark Magician was gone. After a second or two, I just moved Breaker to defense mode and ended my turn.

Ricky: "Sorry Travis, but I had to do it. That way, I could sacrifice Machina Fortress and summon Cyber Dragon!" "So… you sacrificed a strong monster to play a weaker monster?" I was confused for a moment until I realized why he did that. "Oh…" "That's right. I send Machina Force to the graveyard and revive Machine Fortress! Oh, and this is revenge for not letting me attack for three turns: I activate my own Swords of Revealing Light!" "Oh great… and my Swords just wore off too." "Doesn't feel so good now, does it? But that's not all: I think I'll wipe out the rest of your field!" Cyber Dragon attacked Royal Magical Library while Machina Fortress wiped out Breaker. "That's enough punishment. I'll end my turn."

Me: "Aw man…" I drew Pitch-Black Power Stone. "I have a little story for you: Legend has it that the Dark Magician wasn't always the great magician we know him to be. Even he had a master. Well now by giving up my Citadel's six spell counters, I can special summon him right from my hand: Endymion, the Master Magician!" "Master Travis, I am honored to assist you in helping your younger kin to prepare for the coming battle." Endymion said. "Let's just hope The Eye of Timaeus can be of assistance to Yugi." That last sentence caught me by surprise. "You mean that wasn't a dream?" I asked in surprise and wonder. "By all means, no. And allow me to help you right now." "Right! I can use Endymion's effect which allows me to add Giant Trunade to my hand from the graveyard. Now, by sending the Citadel to the graveyard [A/N I forgot what I did with that effect, cause I played out this duel in real life, so I'm compensating for my stupidity.], Endymion can destroy Prohibition." So that happened. "And now I can activate Giant Trunade to send all magic and trap cards back to the hand. So finally, with your Swords of Revealing Light gone, I'll activate Mystic Plasma Zone," the field grew dark again and Endymion's attack grew by 500. "Attack Cyber Dragon!" He destroyed Cyber Dragon and Ricky lost 1100 life points, knocking him down to 6700 from 7800.

Ricky: "Fine, then Machina Fortress, attack Endymion!" Endymion obliterated Machina Fortress, and Ricky went from 6700 to 6000. "But why? Don't you know that Endymion was stronger?" But Endymion was destroyed anyway. "What?" Was the only thing I could say. "Grandpa Muto taught me Machina Fortress's other effect: When he's destroyed in battle, he can destroy another card on the field." I just chuckled a little. "Oh great… now you can bring back fortress." I said. "That's right. I send The Big Saturn to the graveyard to revive Machina Fortress. Then I'll set a monster and play Swords of Revealing Light again, thanks to you. Now I end my turn."

My turn: I drew Mage Power. 'Not really what I had in mind…' "I summon Summoner Monk which, due to his effect, forces him to go to defense mode when I summon him. Now I'll throw down a facedown and equip Summoner Monk with Mage Power. With this, he gains 500 attack and defense points for each magic and trap card I have on the field. Thanks to my facedown, he gains 1000. But that's all I can do, so I end my turn."

Ricky's turn: "Well, since my Machina Fortress can't really get past your defense, I guess all I can do is draw this card and end my turn."

For these next turns, nothing happens. I drew Blast Magician, and set Mythical Beast Cerberus. He destroyed Cerberus with his Fortress, then I drew and set Magicians Unite, giving Summoner Monk another 500 attack and defense. We both drew and ended the next three turns. Except he set a card that third turn.

My turn: "Alright Ricky, I'm activating Magicians Unite! Since I have at least two Spellcasters on my side of the field, I can increase one's attack to 3000!" "Not unless I activate Rare Metalmorph first! Not only does it give your monster an extra 300 attack points, it negates the first magic card you use on it." He countered my move so perfectly. I gotta admit, he could be useful in helping me with this crazy Seal of Orichalcos. "All right Ricky, I end my turn now."

Ricky's turn: "Well then, I guess it's time for an attack! Machina Fortress, take out Blast Magician!" 'Damn, that wiped out more than half the life points I'm left with. 800 points left… I think maybe it's time to end this duel.'

My turn: "It's my turn now! Hey Ricky, think it's time to end this duel." I drew Defender, the Magical Knight. "What do you mean?" He asked me, confused. "You've already proven your skills. So, I'm gonna end this duel." I was just about to summon Defender and have him attack Machina Fortress, but Ricky interrupted me. "No Travis, I won't let you end it like this." I looked at him with a blank face. "Let's keep dueling. I want to finish it." 'Great…' You know how a mule can be stubborn? Well… imagine three mules. That's how stubborn Ricky is. That's why I let him come with me back at the airport. If I said he couldn't come with me, he would've thrown a fit, made a scene, and embarrassed the living hell out of me. "Fine."

Ricky's turn: 'What have I done?' "I'll play a card facedown and end my turn." Ricky called out. 'Yup… that figures.'

My turn: I drew Magical Marionette. 'This might come in handy.' "I'm sorry Ricky," I played Defender. "But you already showed your skills. Defender, attack." He was prepared to attack, but Ricky played his facedown card. "I told you, I want to finish this duel!" Metalmorph attached to Defender, increasing his attack points to 1900, but Metalmorph increased his attack points by half of Machina Fortress's: 1250. That's 3150. That dropped Ricky's life points to 2850. [A/N And just like last time, I messed up when I did it in real life. I just now caught the mistake.] "Now Machina Fortress's effect activates, letting me destroy Summoner Monk." But then I used Defender's effect to save Summoner Monk. "By using one spell counter, I can save any Spellcaster I have from being destroyed. And now I activate Pitch-Black Power Stone to give myself three more spell counters."

Ricky's turn: "Now it's time to revive Machina Fortress by sending Armored Cybern and Blast Sphere to the graveyard! Attack Defender!" Fortress was about to attack, but I activated Enemy Controller. "Sorry Ricky, but you wanted this duel to be drawn out. What better way to draw it out?"

My turn: "Now attack Machina Fortress!" Defender destroyed Fortress, but Ricky used his effect to destroy Metalmorph. 'Aw man…' "I place a monster in defense mode and end my turn."

Ricky's turn: He revived Machina Fortress by sending Machinas Sniper and Soldier to the graveyard and attacked Old Vindictive Magician, the monster I set last turn. Which destroyed Machina Fortress. Again. I was just about to reach for my deck when Ricky stopped me, "Hold on Travis…" Ricky said with a cocky grin. "My turn's not over yet." "Uh…" I had a blank face. "Machina Fortress has another effect." "He does?" "Yes. When he's destroyed by an effect, I'm allowed to look at your hand and send a card to the graveyard." 'Oh…' "Aw…" I used the hologram projector in my chest and exposed my cards. "I'm more worried about Dark Red Enchanter." 'No… not him…' I sent Dark Red to the graveyard, while seeing an image of Dark Red himself bow in sadness. "And now, by sending two more machines to the graveyard, I can revive…" There was an error alert on Ricky's duel disk. "Why not?" "Don't you remember when I taught you Machina Fortress's effect Ricky?" I asked him. He shook his head no. "The monsters you send have to equal 8 or more stars."

My turn: "And now that the threat of that Machina Fortress is finally off the field," I drew a card while Ricky pulled the two machines he tried to send out of his graveyard. "It's now time to start my turn!" I drew Magical Plant Mandrigola. 'He's no good right now.' "I sacrifice Defender, the Magical Knight to summon Magical Marrionette. Attack Ricky's facedown monster!" Magical Marionette attacked, which turned out to be Machina Defender.

Ricky's turn: Now it was Ricky's turn. "I summon Machina Gearframe. His effect allows me to add Machina Peacekeeper to my hand."

"Now this duel's starting to pick up." Grandpa noted.

My turn: I drew Mei-Kou, Master of Barriers and Marionette destroyed Gearframe, knocking 200 off of Ricky's life points.

Ricky's turn: All Ricky could do was play Cyber Valley in attack mode. "Well that takes me back."

My turn: "I remember Cyber Valley from our first duel. So, I'll throw down a facedown and end my turn." I placed Twister facedown. I couldn't use it anyway, since I had 400 life points, but it also increased Summoner Monk's defense by 500.

Ricky's turn: "Too bad, you should've attacked. Now I'll summon Peacekeeper and use Cyber Valley's second effect!" I didn't know Cyber Valley had multiple effects. "Cyber Valley has multiple effects?" "That's right. I only used the first one in our first duel. So, for our second duel, I'm using his second effect: By removing both monsters from play, I can draw two cards! Next, I'll set two, and end my turn."

My turn: "That was quite a play, little brother. Too bad Marionette has to attack." "Not before I activate Shrink!" 'Oh great… that cuts Marionette's attack in half…' So now rather than 650 like I hoped, he's now at 1650. "Aw… I end my turn."

Ricky's turn: "Alright! Time to draw!" He looked at his card and grinned. "I don't like that grin." "Good," Ricky replied. "Cause I just won this duel. By sending Armored Cybern and Yellow Gadget to the graveyard, I can revive Machina Fortress again! And now I activate my other set card, Roll Out! I can now equip Machina Fortress with a union monster from my graveyard! I choose Heavy Mech Support Platform!" 'And I lost…' "And now, I activate Solidarity!" "WHERE DID YOU GET THAT CARD?" Gramps called out in shock. "I was just as surprised when he played that on me." I looked at Ricky. "Good game little brother."

All the monsters and cards that were played all faded away. "Wait, what happened?" Ricky asked. "Well, I already lost, so I cancelled the duel." Ricky was bummed, but brushed it off. "Well, I beat you, and you didn't give up or let me win."

"Hey," I said. "I'm glad I lost to you and not someone with the Seal of Orichalcos." We all laughed a little.


	8. The Seal of Orichalcos Part 3

Yu-Gi-Oh! Travis's Adventure

Chapter 8

[In the last chapter of Yu-Gi-Oh! Travis's Adventure, Travis faced Gurimo in a duel that staked his very soul. Then he tested Ricky in a duel which ended with Ricky's victory.]

Mine and Ricky's duel ended but then I heard a familiar voice behind me. "Travis!" The voice called out. It was Dark Magician Girl. "Come with me!" Before I could respond, a big purple bubble surrounded us, then I somehow ended up next to Yugi. "What just happened?" "Timaeus beat back The Great Beast, but the battle has just begun." Dark Magician Girl said to Yugi and I. "Travis, your spellcasters will be crucial to winning." I saw Endymion show up next to Dark Magician Girl and nod. "That's right, Master Travis. If you do not give up, then we will give you all of our power."

The next morning, I was watching the news with Yugi, Ricky, and the gang about how all those monsters turning real happened all over the world. "So it wasn't just Domino City, huh?" I said. "I guess not." Joey said, picking Timaeus up off the floor. "And this thing beat its supernatural butt back to wherever it came from." "It doesn't sound like it was enough though." I said out loud. "From the stories Endymion told me, it sounds like this Great Beast will take more than just Timaeus to win." "That's right." I heard Endymion's voice. "Timaeus lost more that day than any of us." I looked at him and he pointed at his eye, then disappeared. What did that even mean? "Well where do we even begin?" Tea asked. "Well, I guess we start with the monster sightings…" Tristan answered. "Well Ricky and I saw a whole bunch of insects making a nest out of Domino Airport." I interrupted. Ricky suddenly disappeared at the sound of the word insect.

Gramps knocked at the door and showed us a package. "Who's it from?" I wondered as Yugi took the package. He shrugged and blamed his eyesight. "Oh no!" Yugi called out. Then everybody crowded him to look at the package. "Let's see… it says it's from the desk of Maxillion J. Pegasus." A few seconds later, all of us, save for Ricky and Yugi, freaked out and Joey, Tristan, and I practically made a séance circle with the videotape in the center. "O spirits from the great beyond, purge this video of every bit of bad vibes." We chanted together. Tea called us boneheads and put the cassette in the VCR and next thing we knew, Pegasus's face popped up on Yugi's TV. "Okay, Pegasus. Better not be any funny business on THIS tape." I said from Ricky's spot behind the couch… which we moved to the very back of the room. "Tea, before you start it… don't." Joey said. "Yeah… let's just tape over it with some cartoons…" Tristan said nervously. "I heard about a new detective show with a talking mouse…" I continued. I saw Yami appear and tell Yugi we should listen to the tape. "Maybe." Yugi replied. "After all, he did invent duel monsters." So Yugi walked over and pressed play, and us couch potatoes screamed in fright about possibly losing our souls as well. He gave us a stern look before Pegasus started talking.

"Greetings, Yugi boy." We braced ourselves, then I looked around. "Everybody's soul still in place?" I asked Joey and Tristan and they nodded. Yugi shushed me and looked back at the TV. "Now unless you've been living under a rock, I'm sure you know by now that duel monsters are creating mayhem and chaos all around the world." I deemed it safe and pushed the couch back into its spot. "Lucky for me, Kaiba boy's been taking the heat for the recent events. But… I know who's really behind this." "See you guys?" I said. "I told you playing the tape was a good idea." "They're ruining the game's reputation and that's not good for business. The only catch is that you must come over here to my company and I'll explain in person. It's too risky to say it on this tape, for who knows who'll watch it other than you." How lame. "It's the only way to ensure complete secrecy." "Well that makes sense." I said out loud. "Lastly, I've included a card as the key to get inside the compound." Pegasus's usually happy grin turned into a grim façade. "Under no circumstance should you not leave it behind. Understand?" I picked up the card and placed it in the deck zone on my arm, then closed it. "Alright, Pegasus. It's safe here. Sheesh." The tape ended with him telling us to guard it with our lives.

"We have to trust him." Yami said to Yugi. He nodded and stood up. "Alright guys, I'm going." I looked at him. "You sure about that, Yugi? What if it's a trap?" "I have to go." He said. "Then count me in!" Joey quickly said. Tristan and Tea both said they wanted to go as well, but I was deep in though. When I finally came to a conclusion, I looked at Ricky. "Ricky… I want you to stay here with Gramps." He put a shocked look on his face. "Why? I want to go." He said back to me. "This is going to be a very dangerous battle ahead of us. I want you to stay here for your own safety. What would Dad do if I brought your soulless body back to him? He was already miserable after mom left." "What if I brought yours back to him?" The look on my face changed from being serious to a look of confusion. "What do you mean?" "I mean what if you lost your soul? Here you are looking out for my safety, when we should both look out for each other. You'll risk the same chance of losing your soul as I would dueling one of these Ori… whatever guys." My eyes went wide. I was thinking so hard about watching out for him that I never even thought about myself. "He's right, you know." Joey said. "I hate that about you, Ricky. Alright… you're coming to."

Later that night, we had to spend the night in Yugi's room again. "Thanks for letting us stay here again, Yugi." "As long as Ricky doesn't snore like tonight, you're welcome to stay anytime." I looked at Ricky. "Tonight's actually the first night we've been here where he hasn't snored. I don't know whether I should be relieved or worried." I saw Yami had a worried look on his face though. "Then again… it looks to me like there's something on his mind." He looked at me. "Am I that transparent?" "Yes," I said with an obvious tone. "And I can also tell cause of the look on your face." Yugi tried looking him in the eyes. "You're worried about this too, aren't you?" "What do you mean?" The pharaoh asked Yugi, trying to hide it. "Come on, I know you. You're scared, but you don't want me to worry." He chuckled a little. "I can't hide anything from you, can I?" I shook my head. "So what's up?" "We know very little, if anything at all, about this new enemy."

Yami stared at the floor without saying anything. I can see and hear him speak, but only Yugi can hear his thoughts. "I heard that." Yugi poked at him. "We share a bond, remember?" "That could be why he's worried about this, Yugi. Because you are too." I said to him. "This seems like our toughest fight yet. The future is depending on us." "Believe me," I chuckled. "I know we can do it. But I never read about any of this in the future." Yugi still looked worried. "What if we mess up though?" Endymion showed up as well. "Not to worry, young one. I have beaten the beast once before and we can do it again." "But that was 10,000 years ago." Yugi replied. "It's been growing stronger since then. How do we know we can stop it this time?" Endymion grinned. "We'll think of something." Yugi walked towards his bed. "We better get some sleep."

The next morning, we were at the airport and Ricky was dead tired so I had to carry him. Gramps was making sure we had everything and we headed inside. "You guys are going to love California." I told everybody. "The beaches… the restaurants… the hotels…" I continued listing off things about California that were great. "Ricky and I lived in San Francisco before we came here." We got to the back of the terminal and saw a big jet on the runway. "There's no way that jet's for us!" Joey called out. "It has Pegasus's company's logo on it." Tea said. "Are one of you kids Yugi?" We turned around to see a bunch of guys in suits. Yugi introduced himself and two of the guys grabbed our bags. "Well if you and your friends would follow us, we can get this show on the road." "Don't you mean in the air?" I said to the guy offering to carry my bags, but I told him I could handle it. 'No need to tell him about me.'

When we got on the jet, we were all shocked to see how big it was inside. "This plane is awesome!" Ricky shouted, having woken up before we got on the plane. "The perks of being friends with Mr. King of Games himself, Ricky." Tristan said, giving Yugi a noogie. Joey ran up and jumped in a seat, claiming how extremely comfy they were.

About an hour into our flight, Tea proposed a round robin style of dueling to test our skills and keep them sharp for the battle ahead of us. "Even though none of us will be using the Seal of Orichalcos," She explained. "For obvious reasons…" Tristan interrupted. "Right, anyway, it wouldn't hurt to keep our skills sharp." She finished. "And this time, Travis won't have to throw his duel against Yugi." Ricky unintentionally said. "He did what?" Yugi called out. I came out of the bathroom and saw Yugi glaring at me. "Uh… what's up Yuge?" I joked and chuckled nervously. I don't think I ever saw Yugi so mad at me before. "You and I are going to duel, and you aren't going to throw this match for me." He said. "Wait… who did wha?" I said, confused. "Ricky spilled the beans, Travis." Joey said. "That's right. Joey asked you to throw our match back in Duelist Kingdom. I thought you weren't really trying to duel." "Alright…" I said hesitantly. "If you want to duel me, I'll grab my sea creatures and…" Yugi shook his head. "No… in order to find out which of us should've really dueled Pegasus, I need to duel your spellcasters." I shrugged and agreed to the terms. "There's not enough space on the plane for our duel disks, so why not use the table?" Yugi walked to the back of the jet. "This is a jet. There should be plenty of space."

Joey handed me his duel disk. "Here bud, this should even the playing field. You duel on this jet with that arm of yours and we could end up in the ocean." I agreed with Joey and took my deck out of my arm then stuck it his disk. Yami took Yugi's place and turned around to face me. "Well Travis, this is intriguing. I'd like to see how well you duel for real." We activated our duel disks and drew our starting hand.

Yami's turn: "Thank you for allowing this rematch, Travis. I'll start the duel by summoning Obnoxious Celtic Guardian in defense mode. Then I'll place one card facedown and end my turn."

My turn: I have Magical Citadel of Endymion, Dark Red Enchanter, Skilled Dark Magician, Magical Exemplar, and Field Barrier. "You're welcome. I'd be glad to duel any time." I drew Old Vindictive Magician. "First off, I think I'll attack with Skilled Dark Magician!" I summoned Skilled Dark Magician in attack mode and he tried attacking Celtic Guardian, but Yugi's monster wasn't destroyed. "What's going on? Shouldn't Celtic Guardian be destroyed?" Yugi chuckled. "Ah, true. If this wasn't Celtic Guardian. But this is Obnoxious Celtic Guardian." I was confused. "Obnoxious Celtic Guardian can't be destroyed in battle by monsters with 1900 or more attack points." I was impressed. "I gotta say, Yugi. Your decks get more and more impressive every time I see them."

Yami's turn: He drew his card. "I summon King's Knight in defense mode. Then I end my turn without doing anything else."

My turn: I drew Giant Trunade. "First, I summon Magical Exemplar." 'He didn't activate his facedown card when I attacked. Or when I summoned Skilled Dark Magician. I wonder…' "I activate the magic card Giant Trunade to send your facedown card back to your hand." The orb on Skilled Dark Magician's shoulder lit up. "Next up, I activate the field magic card Magical Citadel of Endymion." The orb on Skilled Dark Magician's other shoulder lit up. "Now I activate Field Barrier. From now on, field magic cards can't be destroyed in battle and a new one can't be activated." The duel disk turned the plane around us into the citadel and a big bubble surrounded us. Last, a light started shining and spinning around the spire. "Now Exemplar will attack Obnoxious Celtic Guardian. Since her attack is less than 1900, Celtic Guardian is destroyed. Next, Skilled Dark Magician attacks King's Knight. That's enough punishment for one turn."

Yami's turn: "I'll be sure to return the favor." He drew his card from his deck. "I'll place two cards facedown then summon Beta the Magnet Warrior in attack mode! He'll attack Magical Exemplar!" "But they'll both be destroyed!" I called out. Magical Exemplar jumped forward and they both struck each other, destroying each other. "Now, I activate The Shallow Grave, allowing each of us to set a monster from our respective graveyards." I set Magical Exemplar and I don't know what Yugi set. 'I don't get it. The Shallow Grave not only gave me back Magical Exemplar, but it also added a spell counter to Magical Citadel of Endymion. What is he planning?' "With that, my turn comes to an end."

My turn: "And the beginning of mine starts! I draw!" I drew Fissure. 'This won't help me quite yet.' "I'll place a card facedown and have Skilled Dark Magician attack your new monster." My magician powered up the tip of his staff and threw it at Yugi's facedown monster. It flipped face up and turned out to be Obnoxious Celtic Guardian. "Well… crud. Alright, fine. I end my turn."

Yugi's turn: "My draw! Now I'll place a monster in defense mode, move Obnoxious Celtic Guardian to attack mode, and end my turn."

"Yugi just made a bonehead move." Tristan said. "Why?" "It's because Yugi and Travis haven't dueled since Duelist Kingdom." Joey replied. "Since Travis added new cards and changed his strategy, he must be baiting him into a trap of some kind."

My turn: "If that's the case, Yugi, I'll take the bait!" I drew Mist Body. "Now I'll flip Magical Exemplar, then have Skilled Dark Magician attack your facedown monster!" Just like earlier, he charged up the staff and swung it towards Yugi's facedown monster. When it flipped, it turned out to be a monster I haven't seen before called Big Shield Gardna. "What's that!" Shield was right. The shield reflected my attack right back to me. Then I dropped down to 7300. But the weirder part was that Gardna switched from defense to attack mode. "What just happened?" "When Big Shield Gardna's attacked, he automatically switches into attack mode." Yugi replied. "I don't understand why, but I won't argue. Exemplar attacks your Gardna!" 'With only 100 attack points, this is going to hurt.' Exemplar chanted then small orb assimilated from her chest and flew towards Big Shield Gardna, destroying him and dropping Yugi's life points down to 6400. "Well that's some card Yugi. I hope your next one's better. I'll equip Skilled Dark Magician with Mist Body and end my turn." Skilled Dark Magician's body went sorta cloudy and transparent and another light started spinning around the spire.

Yami's turn: He drew a card then smirked. "Your wish is granted. I sacrifice Obnoxious Celtic Guardian to summon Curse of Dragon!" My eyes went wide. "Not good!" "Not good indeed. Now, Curse of Dragon, attack Magical Exemplar with Dragon Flame!" Yugi's Curse of Dragon blasted a fireball at my Exemplar and fried her. That dropped my life points to 7000. 'Not good…'

My turn: "Alright, my draw now." I drew Mythical Beast Cerberus and placed him in my hand. 'Knowing Yugi… he has a plan. He wouldn't throw two facedowns and not activate them without one. I better save Fissure.' Before I did anything though, he activated one of his facedown cards. "Now to activate my trap card: Dust Tornado!" "Not that!" Dust Tornado blew away Fissure. 'So much for saving it… now what? I was hoping to save Skilled Dark Magician's effect for later, but now without Fissure, looks like I have to do it.' "I activate the effect of Skilled Dark Magician. Since he has three spell counters, I'm allowed to tribute him to summon a monster near and dear to your heart, Yugi." He repeated the words near and dear to my heart out loud while Skilled Dark Magician's cloudy body dissipated. Then Yugi's eyes went wide. "Impossible! I only know of one person who wields such a monster." "I don't get it." Joey said. "Don't you?" Yugi said to him. "A monster near and dear to my heart. Only one monster in the world has that distinction." I looked up, along with everyone else. "No way!" Joey called out in surprise. "Is that…?" One of the ace monsters of my deck slowly floated down from the tip of the spire. "Ladies and gentlemen," Ricky said. "Say hello to Travis's Dark Magician."

"He looks different." Tea said. "Yeah, he does. There's multiple Dark Magicians. Each looks different than the last. Mine just so happens to have green skin, blonde hair, and a purple outfit with red trim." I explained to her. "Dark Magician, destroy Curse of Dragon with Dark Magic Attack!" My Dark Magician sent a stream of dark purple energy towards Yugi's dragon and destroyed it, dropping his life points down to 5900. He already looked defeated.

Yami's turn: "Dark Magician… I don't have the right cards to beat him yet." He looked at his deck and drew a card. "All I can do this turn is end my turn."

My turn: I drew Royal Magical Library. "Dark Magician, attack Yugi directly!" The attack connected with Yugi and created a cloud of smoke. After a while, however, the smoke cleared and there was little Yugi who took Yami's place. Yugi's life point counter was unchanged. "What?" "The other me forgot that he had Kuriboh in his hand. I had to step in and use his effect. That saved me from Dark Magician's effect."

Yugi's turn: "Alright, I draw." He scowled and placed his drawn card in defense mode. "That's all I can do this turn. So let's see what you can do, Travis."

My turn: As I drew my card, I saw the pharaoh appear next to Yugi. "Alright Yugi, I'm okay now." "Are you sure, pharaoh?" He replied, then the pharaoh nodded and took Yugi's place. "You summoning Dark Magician did surprise me. However, I'm not going to be easily surprised again. Let's see what you have in store this turn." Yami said to me. "Alright. I'll have Dark Magician attack your defense." Dark Magician thrust the palm of his hand out this time and Yugi's facedown Giant Soldier of Stone was obliterated. "Ouch…" Joey said out loud. "That monster never stood a chance." "I'll end with a facedown."

Yugi's turn: "Heart of the Cards… guide me!" There was an air of suspense. Whenever Yugi says that, he usually pulls a game changer. "I'll place one card facedown and end my turn."

My turn: 'Huh… whenever he says that, he usually gets a good card.' I looked at the card he just set. 'That must be a good card.' "I'll attack you directly with Mythical Beast Cerberus!" I threw Mythical Beast Cerberus onto the duel disk and he got ready to pounce on Yugi, but he was ready for it. "You triggered my trap card!" My eyes grew wide. "Mirror Force!" I was not ready for that. Both my Dark Magician and Mythical Beast Cerberus were destroyed. "To end my turn, I activate my own trap card: Pitch-Black Power Stone." The three points on the card shown to signify three spell counters were added to the trap. "Now that I have three backup spell counters, I end my turn."

Yami's turn: "I draw!" He looked at his card, smirked, and placed it in his hand. "I summon Alpha the Magnet Warrior in attack mode! Attack directly!" Alpha flew towards me and swung his sword at me, dropping me down to 5600.

My turn: I drew Apprentice Magician and placed him facedown, ending my turn.

Yami's turn: "I apologize for your lack of options, Travis. Now I activate Monster Reborn to revive Beta the Magnet Warrior. Now, Alpha the Magnet Warrior, attack Travis's monster!" Apprentice Magician flipped over and Alpha swung at him, destroying him. "You activate my monster's effect. Not only does he give my field a fourth counter, I'm now allowed to set a level 2 or lower monster from my deck. Now I set another Apprentice Magician." "Alright, but now it's Beta's turn to attack!" My second Apprentice Magician flipped over and Beta slugged him with his magnet hands. "Time for a redo. My second Apprentice Magician's effect activates. My field gains another counter and I'm allowed to set another spellcaster. This time, I set Crystal Seer."

My turn: "And then I draw a card. Which I'll then activate. It's called Terraforming. I'm now allowed to search my deck for a field card and add it to my hand. I can add Mystic Plasma Zone to my hand. Next up, I flip summon Crystal Seer to activate her ability. I can pick up the top two cards of my deck and look at them. Then I'm allowed to add one to my hand and place the other card on the bottom of my deck." I looked at my deck. 'Endymion…' I picked up the first card, Book of Moon. I looked at the next card. 'I don't know what I should do.' Endymion's voice echoed in my mind. "Don't worry." 'Huh?' I picked up the next card and my eyes went wide.

'I'll save you for later.' I placed the second card in my hand without telling anybody what it was then placed Book of Moon on the bottom of my deck. "Now to attack." Everybody was shocked. "He's crazy!" Tristan said. "Not exactly." I said to him. "I sacrifice Crystal Seer to summon Dark Red Enchanter!" I smirked. "Dark Red Enchanter now attacks Beta the Magnet Warrior." "Hang on." Joey called out. "They have the same attack points. They'll both be destroyed." Dark Red Enchanter thrust his staff at Beta and destroyed him. But… "How is Dark Red Enchanter still there?" Yugi asked me. "When Dark Red Enchanter is summoned, he gains 2 spell counters and 300 attack points for every spell counter." Yugi's life points dropped 600 points. I looked at the second card I picked up thanks to Crystal Seer. 'I'll save you for later.' "Your turn Yugi."

Yami's turn: "All I do this turn is sacrifice Alpha to set a monster. Then I end my turn."

My turn: I drew Spell Power Grasp and placed it in my hand. "I activate Magical Blast. Thanks to Terraforming, that gave my citadel four counters. With Magical Blast, you lose 200 life points for every spellcaster I control." Yugi dropped to 5100 life points. "And now, thanks to Magical Blast, both my Citadel and Dark Red Enchanter gain a spell counter and Enchanter gains another 300 attack points. Now Enchanter, attack Yugi's monster with Scepter Strike!" Yugi's monster, another one I've never seen before, was flipped over and destroyed by Dark Red Enchanter. "Perfect." Yugi said with a grin. Soon, I'll win this duel. But for now, we'll see." I was curious about what he meant by that, but I ignored it and ended my turn.

Yami's turn: "My draw!" He placed the card in his hand then set another monster. "Keep setting them up and I'll keep knocking them down."

My turn: I drew my card and sent Dark Red in to attack Yugi's monster.

Yami fell to his knees. "What if I wasn't meant to be the king of games after all." "Yugi…" I said to him. I saw his millennium puzzle flash and he stood up again, but this time it was little Yugi. "I don't know what's wrong." He said. "But I'll duel in his place until he feels up to continue.

Yugi's turn: "Alright, time to draw." He looked mad about his draw again and placed a monster in defense. "I'll leave it at that."

My turn: "Look… pharaoh, if you can hear me… during our duel at Duelist Kingdom, even though Joey asked me to throw the duel, you still beat me. I tried my hardest to win, but you won with Black Luster Soldier. Once you summoned him, I couldn't do anything. You did deserve to win." Yugi and I looked around but didn't see him. "Yugi… should we continue the duel?" He nodded. "I think we should. I have a certain card somewhere in my deck that should turn the tide of this duel." "Alright… I guess Dark Red Enchanter attacks." Yugi's Mystical Elf flipped over and Dark Red Enchanter destroyed her. "I'll end my turn with a facedown."

Yugi's turn: "Alright pharaoh, I hope you're watching this. I draw!" Yugi's eyes grew wide. "Ready Travis? I activate the magic card Card Destruction!" Everyone was shocked. Especially me. All the cards in my hand were gone. Especially Endymion… I had a fresh new hand. The cards I discarded were Endymion, the Master Magician, the card I added with Crystal Seer's effect, Royal Magical Library, Mystic Plasma Zone, Old Vindictive Magician, and Hannibal Necromancer. The cards I drew were Breaker the Magical Warrior, Sorcerer of Dark Magic, Disenchanter, Defender, the Magical Knight, and Magical Dimension. Magical Citadel of Endymion gained its sixth spell counter. Yugi wanted me to fight my all, but I don't know if I can bring myself to… "I'll place one card facedown and summon Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts in attack mode."

My turn: "I draw!" I placed Blast Magician in my hand and picked up Breaker the Magical Warrior. "I summon Breaker the Magical Warrior in attack mode. Now, when he's summoned, he gains a spell counter, 300 attack points, and the ability to destroy a magic or trap card on the field." "Oh no!" Yugi exclaimed. "His target… Pitch-Black Power Stone." Everyone looked confused. "Why'd he destroy his own card?" Tristan asked. "Because when a card that has spell counters on it is destroyed while Magical Citadel of Endymion is out on the field, the Citadel gains all that card's spell counters. Now Breaker, swing your sword and attack Gazelle!" "You've just activated my next trap, Zero Gravity! It forces all face-up monsters to change their battle positions." Yugi called out. "Not bad. Not bad at all."

Yugi's turn: "Thanks. And thank you for fighting your hardest." He drew his card. "Now I activate Graceful Charity! That let's me draw 3 cards from my deck, as long as I discard 2." He drew 3 cards, discarded Gamma the Magnet Warrior and Dark Magician Girl, and set the third. "Next, I'll switch Gazelle into attack mode and attack Breaker!"

My turn: "Alright pharaoh, better be watching. My draw!" I drew and set Magic Cylinder. "Now I attack Gazelle with Dark Red Enchanter!" Dark Red Enchanter fired a blast of magical energy at Gazelle, causing another smokescreen to appear. When it finally cleared, I saw three hats on the field, along with the taller pharaoh… who had a determined look. "Thanks to Yugi's trap card, I was able to save Gazelle with Magical Hats!" 'Oh great… I've heard of that card, a magician's best friend.' "Alright, since I can't find Gazelle anymore, I end my turn." "But not before this bit of bad news. Another effect of the Magical Hats is that I'm allowed to shuffle two more cards under the hat. Whether it's monster, magic, or trap, that's for me to know and for you to find out."

Yami's turn: "And while you contemplate that, I'll draw." He grinned. 'I don't like that grin.' "Now I activate Card of Sanctity! That allows each player to draw until they have six cards in their hand." 'That gave me Swords of Revealing Light and another spell counter to put on Dark Red and the Citadel…' "Why are you helping me out Yugi?" "Because, Travis, that also helps me out as well. Because I have now won this duel." Yugi called out. "But how?" "You'll see. Hats, begone!" The Magical Hats disappeared, and revealed Catapult Turtle in the hat on the left, Gazelle in the middle hat, and Sangan hiding under the hat on the right. "I still don't get it…" I said confused. "What's your plan?" I suddenly realized it. He hasn't played his facedown card at all since he set it. He didn't activate it for any of my summons, attacks, or card activations. "Unless… that card…!" "Just so happened to be the very same card Yugi placed to help me win the Duelist Kingdom Tournament and earn the title of King of Games?" I started to get scared now. "Because that is exactly the card! Reveal Dark Magic Ritual! All I need are the right number of monsters!"

'I can't wait anymore!' "I activate a quick-play card from my hand: Magical Dimension!" The sarcophagus featured in the card art for Magical Dimension appeared behind Catapult Turtle and Dark Red Enchanter. "NO!" I was so distracted and impatient due to Yugi's ritual card that I didn't even think about the first part of Magical Dimension's effect. "Endymion… I'm sorry…" Due to Magical Dimension's effect, I was supposed to special summon a monster, so I just picked Disenchanter. Then Catapult Turtle was also destroyed. "That was fun." Ricky said. 'I lost… I didn't even think about the first part of Magical Dimension's effect.'

Those two words echoed in my head. "Now, with Dark Magic Ritual, I can send my own Dark Magician in my hand and Sangan on my field as the required tributes needed to start the ritual. Now that they've been sacrificed, I am now able to summon the Sorcerer of Dark Magic! And thanks to Sangan's effect, I can now add Queen's Knight from my deck to my hand. Now I'll summon her to field." I finally snapped out of it. "Now my powerful magician will attack Disenchanter!" "No he won't, because my trap activates! Magic Cylinder!" Sorcerer of Dark Magic's attack got redirected right back to Yugi, making his life points go all the way down to 2300. "WHAT? No matter… I'll have Gazelle attack Disenchanter!" I looked at him confused. "You want to lose?" Unfortunately, Disenchanter and Gazelle both got destroyed. Leaving me more confused. "What just happened?" "A little monster I like to call Beast of Gilfer. When he's sent to the graveyard, a monster on the opponent's field is reduced by 500 attack points, just enough to beat Disenchanter at the cost of Gazelle. Now Queen's Knight will attack your life points directly!" I went down to 4100 life points. "I'll set one card and end my turn."

My turn: I drew Summoner Monk. 'I need to build my defense. I play Swords of Revealing light now and he'll deck out. But what if he has a plan to win despite that? I could summon Endymion.' "Alright, I summon Summoner Monk, but due to his effect, he's forced into defense mode. Next, I'll activate his effect and discard my Swords of Revealing Light to special summon Mei-Kou, Master of Barriers! Now, I remove six spell counters from my Citadel to revive Endymion, the Master Magician from my graveyard! Finally, with his effect, I can now add the Swords of Revealing Light that I just sent to the graveyard to my hand. I'll now activate the swords, preventing you from attacking for three turns. But that doesn't mean I can't attack. Now, Endymion, destroy Queen's Knight with Magical Blast!" "I don't think so!" Yugi called out. 'Uh oh.' My own trap now activates. You remember your Magic Cylinder, don't you? Because I have my own! Your attack is redirected back to you!" I'm now at 1400 life points. "I end my turn…"

Yugi's draw: 'Two more cards in his deck. Thank you Swords of Revealing Light.' "To start off my turn, I activate Stop Defense. That forces Summoner Monk into attack mode." 'Why try? You can't attack. My swords prevent it, remember?' "Diffusion Wave-Motion!" Yugi called out. "Diffusuh wha…?" I blurted out without even paying the slightest bit of attention. "Diffusion Wave-Motion! I give up 1000 life points. Then, by choosing one of my level 7 and up spellcasters, I can attack all of your monsters and bypass the effect of Swords of Revealing Light!" So now he's attacked me twice even though the Swords stop him from attacking. "Sorcerer of Dark Magic, attack all of Travis's monsters!"

He beat me. For real, this time.

That duel really exhausted me, and everybody else agreed as well, so we decided to catch some shuteye. Especially Ricky.

After we landed, we were all relieved. Especially since it was all relatively peaceful. We walked outside and saw a fancy car outside with the same guys from Domino City inviting us in. "Sweet!" Joey and I said together. "The glitz and glamour continues!" "Whose bag is this?" Ricky asked as he saw a bag on the cart. "Not mine." I said. "We probably grabbed someone else's bag on accident." One of the drivers took the bag to lost and found and we drove to the place Pegasus said to meet him at.

As we were driving around, everyone was taking in the sights. Sounds like they've never been anywhere near California. "Welcome to California, everyone." I said. "Home to Hollywood, Venice Beach, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the very home of yours truly." Joey looked outside and pointed something out. "So that's the Golden Gate Bridge?" I looked out to where he pointed. "The one and only, Joseph." "You getting all this in Yugi?" Joey asked him. I don't think he was paying any attention. "Hello? Earth to Yugi?" I was about to snap in his face before he looked at us. "Sorry guys. I can't stop thinking about everything that happened. It's not everyday a world inhabited by monsters and other stuff opens up and threatens our world." He said while looking at Timaeus. "Not really. Back in the future, it was sort of a regular occurrence." All of a sudden, I feel myself lurch forward and I open my eyes to see everybody staring at me. Especially Ricky and the driver.

"Oh right… I never told anyone this. Well, in the future, when I got this arm and my legs, the director of the city turned into a power-hungry megalomaniac and threatened to destroy and remake the world in his image using the power of the light and the darkness." I held up my natural arm, and my mark of the Crimson Dragon was still there. 'Weird…' "Anyway, the director tried using the Crimson Dragon to do it because 18 years ago, the director's brother tried…" "TRAVIS!" I heard Endymion call my name out in my head, then I passed off my hesitation by laughing nervously. "Future events… I can't say. It would tear apart the universe. What I can say is this: What happened to the director was all a part of what his brother did. It involved the King of the Underworld and my friends and I saved everyone."

They were all still looking at me. "What? I told you guys I was from the future." "Well if you really are from the future, tell us how we can save the world!" Tristan said to me. The driver started driving again. "Or is it the whole 'can't spoil the future' thing?" "Well…" I started to say. "That would be the case… if even I knew how to stop the Great Beast." They were confused. "Unfortunately, it seems like these events were erased from history cause I've never read about any of this in the history books." "We've gotta get to the bottom of this before it strikes again." Yugi said.

Some time later, we were driving through the desert. There were no other cars on the road anywhere. 'That's so strange.' "I have a bad feeling about this, guys." Yugi said. "You have a bad feeling about everything, Yugi." I joked. "I'm serious. Don't you remember what Pegasus said on that tape yesterday?" Yugi asked me with a scared look on his face. "I barely remember what I ate yesterday." I joked again. "Travis!" He yelled at me. "Relax, I'm trying to lighten the mood." "Pegasus could be in trouble. If he is, then it seems the biker gang could be endangering his life." Yugi said. "You're right." I said, actually serious this time. "What if we were walking into a trap?" "Then we spring it." Everybody shot looks at me. "We can duel anybody who gets in our way. I have the card Pegasus sent us safely tucked away." I looked at my duel arm as I said that.

A few moments later, the car suddenly stopped at a gas station. "Wait, what're we doing at a gas station?" I asked looking around. A few minutes later, I started getting impatient. "What's taking the driver so long?" Joey and I got out of the car and walked around. "Maybe he needed to use the can?" Joey suggested, so I walked around to the restrooms and knocked on the door. A few seconds later, there was no answer, so I opened it and it was empty. "Well, bathrooms are empty." I said after walking out. "Were… at least for a while." Joey shushed me as I saw him trying to listen to something, so I decided to do the same. Everyone got out and I shrugged my shoulders. A moment later, I heard rumbling, so we ran out to the street in the hopes of flagging down a limo. It certainly wasn't a limo. "What're motorcyclists doing around here?" I asked. "You kids shouldn't wandering around these parts." The leader said after they caught up to us. "'Specially you, Travis." One of the other ones said to me. 'That's weird…'

"Do I know you?" I asked him. "I'd certainly hope you'd remember me." He said as he took off his helmet. I looked confused. "Travis, what's he talking about?" Ricky said. After a while of concentrating and racking my brain trying to figure out who he was, my head actually started to hurt. "No idea." "You guys got a problem?" Tristan called out. "Yeah we do." The kid who called me out said. "What do you guys want?" Tea asked. "You better not be low on gas cause the station's closed." Ricky said. "Why don't you guys get lost already!" Tristan called out. "It doesn't look like they're taking your advice." Yami said. "Gee. Looks like we found the brains of this gang." The kid said. "Guys, I have an idea. It might be crazy, but just trust me on this." Joey said as he started backing up. "Run!" We all followed his lead and started sprinting towards the car. "No! They caught up!" We were surrounded. They all picked up pipes and started to attack us, but one of them was stopped by another pipe to the head. "Someone's there!" I called out. 'His outfit…' We ran to the car and I tried to start it. "It's not starting!" I said. Tristan slammed his fists on the dashboard and the car started. "Now drive, Jenkins!" The motorcycle of the guy who got slammed by the pipe caused an explosion at the gas station as I slammed my foot on the pedal. "That… was close."

"Travis… what's going on?" Ricky asked me. I could tell he was scared. "Yeah, one of the guys called you out." Tristan said. "I know." I replied sternly. "I've been trying to remember who he was, but I couldn't. He did look familiar though, but I couldn't remember." "More amnesia?" Ricky asked me again. I shrugged. "Maybe… maybe not. Let's get to Industrial Illusions before Pegasus has a cow." "But…" Tea started to say. "What if someone got to him first?" We were finally out of the mountains and into civilization. "Finally, home sweet home!" I called out. "Industrial Illusions is here." Tristan curiously said. "Are you saying you lived right next door to Maximillion Pegasus?" Joey yelled in my ear. "Not RIGHT next door, Joey." I said with a laugh. "San Francisco is a pretty big place." I found my house and parked on the street, since my dad's car was parked in the driveway. "Oh great… dad's home."

Soon as I said that, he walked out the door and got nervous of the car. I stepped out and then my dad was surprised. "Travis! Where were you? You were supposed to be back a week and a half ago!" I giggled nervously and looked a little sheepish. "I was busy babysitting Ricky." I joked and everyone got out of the car. "At least you guys are alright… hey…" He looked inside the car. "When did you learn how to drive?" "About… 80 years into the future." He got a shocked look on his face, then invited everyone inside. "When did you figure it out, Travis?" "Halfway through the Battle City finals. How come you never told me?" I raised his concerned face with a look of disappointment. "I never found the right time. You had amnesia and you were a wreck. It was just better that you thought you were part of our family."

"Maybe… I never had a family growing up." They all looked at me. "Yeah… something happened and I lost my parents when I was a kid. I was an orphan on the streets, but it wasn't all bad. I did have friends. They were the best. Yusei, Jack, Crow… we grew up together. Then we met Kalin. He wanted to make our city safe for its residents. For us all. Duel gangs kept showing up all over and causing trouble, so Kalin banded us together, Yusei, Crow, Jack and I, and we were The Enforcers. We were kicking butt and taking names. Until Kalin got drunk with power. He took on an innocent duelist… then The Enforcers disbanded. He wouldn't stop until he ruled the whole city. So he tried to take on the police. Yusei found us all and we ran all over looking for Kalin. He was arrested after putting one of the police in the hospital. We haven't seen him since. A while later, the rest of us found a new group of friends. It was around that time I was involved in a bad accident. I survived, then ended up being turned into a human duel runner." I activated my duel arm as I said that. "I can hover about a foot off the ground and reach speeds of about 40. Jack betrayed Yusei, we escaped to the city, got caught by the police…" I pointed to my tattoos under my eyes. "Then we were branded as criminals. Then came the Fortune Cup. That was where Yusei and I, who also got a tattoo as well, became really popular. The director sent out some invitations for a big tournament, mostly to point out some special duelists under the guise of dueling Jack for the title of King of Duelists. We kicked butt. I lost to Yusei in the second to last round, so he went on to win the whole thing."

"So what about your duels, Travis?" Tea asked me. "Oh they were cool. I had to change all my strategies around just to keep up. One duel was Six Samurai versus Ninjas, another one was where I went up against a beast-warrior duelist who could SERIOUSLY ramp up his monsters' stats, another was a machine deck not unlike Ricky's, and another was drag…" I stopped there. "DRAGONS! I knew I recognized that kid!" "Who? The one who called you out earlier?" Ricky asked me. "Draco! He was famous in the city. Undefeated. That is until he went up against yours truly and got his butt royally handed to him. You should've seen him afterwards. He was a wreck." I said with a cocky grin. "Sounds like Bandit Keith." Joey said. "We better get going you guys, or Pegasus is gonna be mad at us for keeping him." Yami thanked my dad and we all headed out. "Wait, should I drive you?" My dad asked me. "I can drive. Remember?"

A while of driving later, we ended up in the lobby of Industrial Illusions. "That's weird. It's empty." Tea said. "Yeah. Everybody get the day off?" Joey asked. All of a sudden, we were treated to a whistling and harmonica tune like those old western movies I used to watch. "Hey, I thought this place was empty. What gives?" Joey said. A guy walked out wearing an entire cowboy getup and met us in the lobby. "I'm surprised you made it. I started to get bored waiting you… Travis!" The guy flung off the hat. "**Nicholas?**" I called out in surprise. "I thought I sent you back to the future!"

"You did. But I came back a day later for revenge!" He yelled. Everybody but me looked so confused. "Battle City was months ago though." Ricky said. "Right, but my time is different from yours. Now, enough prattle." He took his left arm out from behind his back and on it was the same duel disk the guy I dueled on the plane used. "Is that what I think it is?" I asked him. "That's right. I heard about a card that could give me a big advantage. So I came back to this timeline after a day to recharge my time machine. Found Master Dartz and joined his little gang." "So you came back just to get spanked by me again? Why… I'm flattered. But you don't know what you got yourself into! The Seal of Orichalcos is really dangerous! You'll lose more than just the duel if you lose, Nicholas. You'll lose your own soul!" I called out to him. "I know the price. And I don't care. Because with this new deck, I won't be the one getting spanked. It'll be you. And your soul will belong to the great beast! I'll finally get my revenge on you! Pegasus only got in the way. He was swiftly dealt with, since my cards were no match for him. You don't have to accept my challenge, but then… how will your friends escape the building?" We turned around and saw gates in front of the doors and windows. "He's right! There's no escape!" Tristan called out. "But I'm no monster. When you lose your soul, your friends have free reign to leave." He activated his duel disk as I activated my duel arm. I replaced Pegasus's key card with my deck. "Now, let's begin!" I shined life point counters and field cards for both sides from my chest.

My turn: "Fine then. Since you went first the last time, I'll start this time. I draw!" 'No! Bad draw!' "I'll place four cards facedown and end my turn."

Nicholas's turn: "Aww, what? No monsters to defend your life points? They must've realized how much of a loser you are. I'll show you how to really play!" He drew a card from his deck. "First off, I'll do what you couldn't do and set a monster. Then I'll set a card facedown. I don't want to hurt you too badly too soon, so I'll give you some time to breathe."

My turn: "Thanks." I drew Book of Moon. 'Another dead draw! No!' "All I can do is place one card facedown."

Nicholas's turn: "That's too bad. Guess my free lesson didn't work out too well for you. As for me, I summon a monster like you've never seen before: Gagaga Magician!" A monster who looked almost like Yugi's Dark Magician appeared, but this one had silver hair, a black outfit with red shoulder pads, a flaming cloak, and chains holding a cool looking belt buckle appeared on the field. He was right. "I've never seen that monster before!" I looked at Yugi. "And there's plenty more where he came from. Gagaga Magician, attack Travis directly!" 'Too soon! I gotta play it!' "You activated Magic Cylinder! It redirects Gagaga's attack right back to you!" Gagaga Magician's chain went in one cylinder and out the other, then struck him. "What happened? I thought you made these duels real, Nicholas?" I taunted. "I lost them when your monsters launched the final attack in our last duel. But this time will be different. A lot different."

My turn: "I hope so, that last duel was boring." I drew Breaker the Magical Warrior. "YES! Breaker the Magical Warrior, time to join the party!" 'His facedown card though…' "Breaker, use a spell counter to destroy Nicholas's facedown card!" Breaker used it to destroy Dark Bribe. "Why didn't you use it to negate Magic Cylinder?" I asked Nicholas. "I didn't want to give you an edge." "Well anyway Breaker, attack Gagaga Magician!" Breaker swooped in and almost sliced Gagaga Magician, but a pink chubby salamander wearing a gentleman's suit intercepted it. "EW!" Tea called out. "What was that?" "That, my dear, was called Gentlemander. When an opponent declares an attack, he sacrifices himself to stop the attack. I special summoned him from my hand because you attacked and took the hit instead." "Fine. Just make your move already."

Nicholas's turn: "Oh I will." He drew his next card. "And it'll be deadly. I activate Terraforming! That allows me to add a field card from my deck to my hand." "But during our last duel, you never activated a field card…" It took a moment for it to sink in. 'The weird duel disk was used by the guy I dueled on the plane. He used…' "NOT THAT CARD!" "CORRECT! I ACTIVATE THE SEAL OF ORICHALCOS!" The same circle with the weird star surrounded us. "THIS CARD SEALS YOUR DOOM, TRAVIS DAVIES!"


	9. Seal of Orichalcos part 4

Yu-Gi-Oh! Travis's Adventure

The Seal of Orichalcos part 4

"Nicholas! Do you realize what you've done?" I shouted to him. "The loser of a duel using the Seal of Orichalcos loses their soul!" Ricky continued. "I'm well aware of the consequences, kid. Which is why your brother's going to be the one to lose his soul!" Nicholas said to Ricky. "Now, let's continue the duel, shall we?"

[In the last chapter, Yugi and Travis had a rematch to see who really should've dueled Pegasus in Duelist Kingdom, since Travis threw their last match. After a hard fought duel, Yugi eventually defeated Travis. On their way to Industrial Illusions, Travis and his friends run into none other than Nicholas, who returned from the future to seek revenge on Travis.]

Nicholas's turn: "Old Vindictive Magician flips face-up and destroys Breaker the Magical Warrior!" Old Vindictive Magician powered up his staff and released it, firing it at Breaker and eliminating him. "Now Travis is defenseless!" Tristan called out. "Tell me something I don't know." I said to him. "Okay, how's this? Gagaga Magician and Old Vindictive Magician attacks your life points directly!" "Oh no they don't! I activate one of my facedown cards: Book of Moon! That forces Gagaga Magician facedown!" The Book of Moon blocked Gagaga Magician's attack and forced him facedown. I took Vindictive Magician's attack, lowering my life points to 7050.

My turn: "Alright Nicholas, you want to lose? I draw!" I drew Magical Beast Cerberus. "Alright! I'll attack your facedown Magician with Mythical Beast Cerberus!" Gagaga Magician was flipped face-up by the attack and Cerberus pounced on him, destroying him. "You got lucky with your draw, Travis. But the duel's not over yet." Nicholas glowered at me. "I'll end my turn, but before I do, I activate a trap called Pitch-Black Power Stone."

Nicholas's turn: "Fine, my draw. I place a card facedown and end my turn."

My turn: "You forgot to switch Old Vindictive Magician to defense mode. He's wide open." I drew Malevolent Nuzzler and placed it in my hand. "Oh well, that's your monster's funeral. First, I move a spell counter from Pitch-Black Power Stone to Cerberus to increase his attack to 1900, and now he attacks Old Vindictive Magician!" "Travis no! His trap! Call off your attack!" Yami called out. I looked at him quizzically then back to Nicholas. "Your friend is right, Travis. This is payback for earlier! I activate my own Magic Cylinder!" "Oh no!" Cerberus was sucked into one of the cylinders and shot out the other one right at me. He accidentally slashed at me, dropping my life points down to 5150. Cerberus started begging for my forgiveness. "It's okay Cerberus, it's not your fault."

Nicholas's turn: "He's right, Cerberus. It's all his fault. He didn't pay attention to my last move." He drew his card. "And now it'll be the final mistake he'll ever make! I activate Blustering Winds!" 'Another card I've never seen before!' "It increases my magician's attack points by 1000." "Cerberus is doomed!" I called out in shock. "You got that right. Now, Vindictive Magician, eliminate Mythical Beast Cerberus!" "You know something, Nicholas. You have no respect for duel monsters. Here you are using terms like eliminate and it's pissing me off. I was hoping to save this for your Aspiring Emperor Hope, but I have no choice. I activate my facedown card, Enemy Controller!" A big video game controller plugged into Old Vindictive Magician then forced him into defense mode. "How dare you."

My turn: "How dare I? Who didn't follow his own advice? That'll cost you dearly in the long run. My draw!" I drew Blast Magician. "I summon Blast Magician and attack Old Vindictive Magician!" He shot forward and pierced Old Vindictive Magician with his big pickaxe looking weapon. "Now who isn't prepared? Cerberus, attack directly!" "I'm completely prepared! I activate the trap card Impenetrable Attack! I take no battle damage." 'According to the screen, that card also let him save his monster from destruction.' "I was right. I knew you didn't care about your monsters."

Nicholas's turn: "You only care about defeating me as long as you don't get hurt." Nicholas drew his card. "Blah blah blah. I activate Reinforcement of the Army." 'Finally, a familiar card.' "I move a warrior-type monster from my deck to my hand and end my turn."

My turn: "You also helped my two monsters. Cerberus and Blast Magician all gain a spell counter." I drew Apprentice Magician. "And you left yourself completely wide open! Now Cerberus, attack Nicholas directly!" He grinned. "I left myself wide open on purpose because then I wouldn't be able to summon Gagaga Gardna directly to the field!" 'Not another monster I haven't heard about!' I was thrown off guard by the monster and didn't even think to stop my attack. "Great… with 2000 defense points, I lose 100 life points and my monster's attack points go back to normal."

Nicholas's turn: "That's right. Now Gagaga Gardna, attack Cerberus!" This turn dropped me to 4450 life points. "Last time I dueled you, you were a pushover." I said to him. "That's right. During our last duel, I didn't have these new cards." I was only able to attack him once, and with his own monster.

My turn: I drew Magical Citadel of Endymion. "I activate the field card Magical Citadel of Endymion!" "But last time, you couldn't activate it because of the Seal, Travis." Ricky said. "Seriously? Then why'd he activate it?" Tristan asked him. "For the spell counters. I know very well that I can't activate my card. But the activation isn't negated, so Blast Magician gains a spell counter. Next up, I equip Blast Magician with Malevolent Nuzzler. He gains another counter plus an extra 700 attack points. And they'll all be used against Gagaga Gardna!" "That's all fine, but now I can activate Gardna's ability! By discarding a card from my hand, Gagaga Gardna isn't destroyed." Gagaga shielded himself from Blast Magician's attack. "And you said I didn't care about my monsters." "You let Old Vindictive Magician be destroyed. I set a monster in defense mode and end my turn."

Nicholas's turn: "I let that weakling be destroyed. I set a card facedown and Gagaga Gardna will destroy your facedown monster!" Gardna rushed over and slammed Apprentice Magician with his shield. "Thanks. Cause now Blast Magician gains a spell counter, plus I get to search my deck for a level two or lower spellcaster to place on the field. I set Crystal Seer." "Ha! More weak monsters. Just go already."

My turn: "Alright, I will. My draw!" I drew Swords of Revealing Light. 'Great!' "Now I flip Crystal Seer over and her ability lets me look at the top two cards of my deck," My own Old Vindictive Magician and Spell Power Grasp. "place one on the bottom of my deck," I put Spell Power Grasp as the bottom card. "and place the other one in my hand. But, rather than staying there, I'll set it on the field, then activate Swords of Revealing Light!" 'Now Blast Magician has five spell counters but I'm still at 4450 life points.' "I end my turn."

Nicholas's turn: "There's more than one way to skin a cat, you know." He drew his card. "Or in this case, cause damage. When Achacha Archer's summoned, you lose 500 life points!" 'I can't afford to lose anymore!' His new monster's arrow lit on fire, then hit me and I dropped down to 3950. The swords are now active for two more turns.

My turn: "What good are the swords if I still take damage anyway?" I drew another Apprentice Magician. "Get ready Nicholas, because this turn's going to get a little complicated. First off, I flip over my own Old Vindictive Magician. He, like you did earlier, destroys Gagaga Gardna!" Just like before, Vindictive Magician destroyed his Gardna monster. "Secondly, I use three spell counters so that Blast Magician can destroy Achacha Archer!" Three orbs of light flew into the orb on Blast Magician's weapon, then charged up to fire at Achacha Archer. "Last but not least, Blast Magician, Old Vindictive Magician, and Crystal Seer attack you directly!" They all rushed and attacked him for 2650 life points. "Finally! I'm beating you!" That attack dropped him down to 3750. 200 less than what I'm at. "Now I end my turn by placing another monster in defense mode."

Nicholas's turn: "You'll pay for that. All I can do is set a monster. Start your turn." The swords are active for one more turn.

My turn: "With pleasure!" I flashed a grin without even looking at the card. "Oh Nicholas. I bet you'll never guess what happens when you show your cards respect." I taunted. "Respect? They're just pieces of paper with drawings on them. You lose one card, you just get another one." He said right back to me. "You don't get it, do you Nicholas? There's more to Duel Monsters than what you think. These cards have spirits. I've shown my cards respect, and they've done more for me than anything. And I'll prove it right now! Old Vindictive Magician, Crystal Seer, I'm sorry but I'm gonna have to sacrifice you." They both nodded to me. "This is what happens when you give your cards the respect they deserve!" Nicholas looked nervous for once in the duel. "Old Vindictive Magician, Crystal Seer, combine your power! Make way for the Dark Magician!"

"What?" We all heard a voice from behind us, and it came from outside. I turned around and noticed Duke Devlin from Battle City was there, along with Weevil Underwood and Rex Raptor, the former American tournament champions. "There are two Dark Magicians?" Weevil yelled aloud. I flashed them a grin and turned back to face Nicholas. "Ready, Sir Nicholas? Blast Magician, Attack his facedown monster!" Nicholas grinned. "Big deal. You've destroyed my Tasuke Knight. It won't make much of a difference." I got mad at what he said. "Nicholas! You lost one your monsters! Don't you feel bad at all?" "Like I said before. These cards aren't really real. They're just holograms." 'I wish Kaiba were here. He'd love this guy.' "Believe it or not, these monsters have feelings. You're hurting them by needlessly getting rid of them! I'll make you see the error of your ways. One attack at a time. Dark Magician, let's show him what I mean. Attack Nicholas directly with Dark Magic Attack!" Dark Magician aimed his staff at Nicholas and launched a big blast of negative energy right at him.

"Oh Travis, if only you'd pay attention." I cocked an eyebrow. "You would've realized that sending Tasuke Knight to the graveyard was a bad idea." I didn't look any less confused. "I can revive Tasuke Knight and end the battle phase!" "**You can do what**?" It's true. Tasuke Knight came back and absorbed Dark Magician's attack.

Nicholas's turn: "I guess it's my turn now. I'll draw a card and end my turn."

My turn: I drew Dark Red Enchanter. 'Welcome to the party, buddy.' "First off, I flip Apprentice Magician. Now… this might seem just a little crazy, but Apprentice Magician, go in and attack Tasuke Knight!" Everybody but Ricky was shocked. "A little crazy?" Joey said. "If that move was any more insane, you'd have to be institutionalized, Travis!" Tristan called out. My attack dropped me down to 2150 life points, but it was well worth the price. "Don't worry, my brother always has a plan." Ricky said. 'I have no idea what I'm doing. But I can't show that.' "Now, with destruction breeds new life. Don't forget, when Apprentice Magician is destroyed, not only does Blast Magician gain a new spell counter, but I can bring Magical Plant Mandragola to take his place. Finally, Dark Magician! Destroy Tasuke Knight with Dark Magic Attack!"

"Time to stop your attack!" My eyes went wide after he said that. "Explain!" "I have a little trap card. It doesn't necessarily stop your attack. I can, however, increase Tasuke Knight's attack by a mere 1000 points." No words can describe my shock right now. I just lost another 700 life points. I'm now down to 1450. 'I'm doomed…' "To end my turn, I sacrifice the Plant to summon Dark Red Enchanter. He instantly gains two spell counters when he's summoned."

Nicholas's turn: "And now, with this one card comes your doom!" He drew his card. "So the Seal of Orichalcos DID seal my doom then." I joked. "Very funny. I summon Marauding Captain in attack mode! And do you know what that means? It means when an army captain rides in to battle, he expects a subordinate. Kagetokage, to battle!" A big black lizard thing appeared from Marauding Captain's shadow. "That was creepy." "Travis! Remember last time?" Yami called to me. "'Fraid I don't, Yuge." "Don't you?" Yami asked again. A shiny eye appeared on his forehead. 'What does he mean?' I looked back to Nicholas and his monsters. "Figure it out." 'What happened last time? Our last duel… it almost…' "No… I remember now!" I called out. Kagetokage and Tasuke Knight changed into shining lights and shot up into the same swirling galaxy that showed up the last time I dueled Nicholas. "With these two monsters, I open up the overlay network! Kagetokage and Tasuke Knight, join together to Xyz summon Number 39: Aspiring Emperor Hope!" "NOT GOOD!" I shouted. "Not good is right! Now I activate The A. Forces. This handy spell increases all my warriors by 200 attack points for every warrior and spellcaster I own." 'You OWN? I can't wait to take this guy down so I can wipe his soul from the face of the earth.' "My monsters' attack points have increased by 900 points!

"Emperor Hope, cut down Blast Magician with no mercy!" His monster shot forward and cut Blast Magician in half. "He only has 150 life points left!" Duke called out. "I could finish you off, then your soul will belong to Dartz. But I want to extend your suffering. I end my turn. But next turn, your defeat will be swift."

My turn: I reached for my deck, but my hand was really shaky. 'No…' I dropped to my knees and the cards in my hand fell. 'Only 150 life points left…' "Travis, you have two options: Surrender, or end your turn so I can beat you. I really don't care which one you choose, the Orichalcos will still take your soul anyway. But please end your turn. I want to finish you off for good!" Nicholas said. I looked at my deck. 'Endymion… where are you… I need your help…'

I felt a powerful presence close to me. 'Yugi… is that you?' I asked the darkness. I heard the voice of the pharaoh echo inside my mind. "Travis, during my time here, I learned three things." Two more images flashed beside Yugi: Joey and Sunshine.

Kaiba's voice echoed in my head. "Never kneel to your opponent. It shows weakness and makes you look like a loser. Do you want to be a loser?" I shook my head no. "Then stand up and prove to yourself and the rest of the geek squad that you aren't a loser!" I stood up and Kaiba faded away.

It was Joey's turn. His voice was the next to echo in my head. "Look closely and consider all your options." I picked up my cards. 'Magical Dimension? But… that won't help, Joey.' I saw him shake his head next. "Look closer." He continued. I looked at my hand again, and was shocked to see what he had meant. 'Swords of Revealing Light? But… it's in my graveyard.' But then I had an idea. 'Maybe there is a way to win. But I don't have him in my hand.' "Smell ya later." Joey gave me a thumbs up as he faded away.

"Last, never lose faith in your deck. Always trust in the heart of the cards." I looked at my deck, and then my life points. I tried to draw my next card, but I couldn't do it. 'What if I draw the wrong card? Kaiba's right… I am a loser. I should give up now so Nicholas won't have the satisfaction.'

I was about to place my hand over my deck, but Endymion's voice echoed in my head. "Travis! You were sent to the past to save the world. If you surrender now, the future is in peril." 'But you heard what Dark Magician Girl said. I'm not a chosen duelist. I'm not gonna get one of those cool dragons like the one Yugi has, Endymion.' "Maybe not. You might not be one of the chosen duelists, but you are important nonetheless." 'How? How am I important? How is the outcome of this duel going to affect the future in any way, Endymion?' "You have affected the lives of more people than you realize. Ricky's mom left him and Mr. Davies years ago." 'Yeah, and he told me I was too young to remember.' "Remember the past, Travis? You said it yourself you don't remember anybody by the name of Ricky Davies joining tournaments." I looked at Ricky. 'But what does that have to do with anything?' "Coming back to his timeline changed it for the better. Remember on Duelist Kingdom? He went to the island after joining Pegasus' junior tournament. If it weren't for you, we never would've joined and never would've made runner up." 'That's right…' "He eventually went into the pro league and became one of the best duelists of his generation. Famous all over the world and all throughout history. And it was all thanks to you. You surrender now, with 150 life points remaining and cards left in your deck, and what message will that send to him?" I didn't say anything. What could I have said? I didn't want to face the truth. What would happen if I surrendered? What would Ricky think? What would his dad think? What would _**I**_ think? 'You're right Endymion. I won't give up. That's what I want to pass on to him.' Endymion faded away leaving only Yugi left. "Remember, always have faith in the heart of the cards and you will always win."

Back in reality, everything I was doing happened. I was standing up and staring at my deck. 'I can't lose faith.' "This deck hasn't let me down yet!" I felt fired up again. I felt the mark of the Crimson Dragon surge through my arm. "My… DRAW!" I drew my card with complete and total confidence. I felt the pharaoh's presence fade from my mind as I looked at the card I drew. Then grinned at Nicholas. "You think you have me beat Nicholas?" I reached for Magical Dimension. "As long as I still have life points remaining, whether it be 150 or one life point, I'm still in the game. Three good friends taught me to never give up no matter the odds, and my deck has rewarded me! By tributing a spellcaster on my side of the field and a monster on yours, I'm allowed to activate Magical Dimension! You haven't forgotten the can of smackdown I handed to you during our first duel, right Nicholas? My good buddy Endymion, the Master Magician is here to give you a refresh your memory!" "NO! Not again!" Nicholas shouted as the sarcophagus sucked in both Dark Red Enchanter and Nicholas's Emperor. Then Endymion broke open the sarcophagus and took his place on my side of the field. "Thanks a lot, Endymion." He turned to face me. "It was your own strength that allowed you to summon me." He gave me a smile, then we went back to the duel.

"Now, when Endymion is special summoned using an effect, I'm allowed to add a magic card to my hand from my graveyard! And I can give you an idea as to what it's going to be." Nicholas glowered at me. "I add the Swords of Revealing Light to my hand. Now Endymion, attack Marauding Captain with Magical Blast!" Endymion charged up power in the tip of his staff and fired it at Marauding Captain, obliterating him and lowering Nicholas's life points to 2950. "To end my turn, I reactivate the Swords of Revealing Light!"

Nicholas's turn: "Took you long enough. I activate Gagaga Revenge to revive Gagaga Gardna in defense mode." The swords are active for two more turns.

My turn: "I activate Terraforming to add Mystic Plasma Zone to my hand from my deck. Endymion, why don't we go ahead and send Gagaga Gardna to the graveyard again?" Endymion repeated what happened earlier and Gardna was destroyed.

Nicholas's turn: All he did was draw and set a card.

My turn: "Well Endymion, he doesn't have a monster. Let's finish off Nicholas, shall we?" He was about to attack, but Nicholas activated his trap card: one known as Shadow Spell. Chains shot out from the ground and caught Endymion before he was able to strike. "And now that your monster's weaker, what say I make my move?" "Fine," I said to him. "But first… since I can't attack you directly, I'll just activate Magical Blast! For every spellcaster I have on my side of the field, you lose 200 life points." A big purple ball of energy shot out towards Nicholas. 'I gotta do all I can to attack him. With only 150 life points left, I'm seriously low on options.

Nicholas's turn: "Running out of options? Cards like those are such a last ditch effort to win." He taunted me. "Sure knocked you down a peg." 'What am I doing? Stop messing with the scary guy.' "I'll set a monster in defense mode and let the swords disappear." He said with a smirk.

My turn: 'Well that was three turns well wasted.' I drew Mage Power. "And another turn gone." 'Well I'm nowhere closer to victory. Maybe I can bluff. With all those new cards, it couldn't hurt.' "I place a card facedown and end my turn."

Nicholas's turn: "That's all you could do? Oh well, let's show you how a true duelist plays. I draw!" He placed the card he drew facedown on the field. "Next up, I flip summon Magical Undertaker! You see, this monster has a special flip effect that allows me to bring a level four or lower monster back from the dead. Gagaga Magician, to arms!" A bright yellow light came from Nicholas's graveyard then formed into Gagaga Magician next to Magical Undertaker. "Next up, by reducing Gagaga Magician's level by two, I can build the overlay network!" Just like before, Gagaga Magician and Magical Undertaker turned into orbs of light that matched their attribute then shot up into a spiraling red galaxy again. 'What is it this time?' "I call forth Shining Elf to battle!" 'No! I won't last another turn!' "However, I want to prolong your suffering and relish in your defeat."

My turn: 'Why is he going easy on me? Does he know what's in my deck? What card I'm going to draw? He's from the future, maybe he's seen this duel coming. I sure haven't… I don't know how we're going to beat this 'Great Beast'…' I drew a card then placed it, along with Magicians Unite, Mystic Plasma Zone, and Mage Power. "Ah, a field card, I presume? Good thing you couldn't activate it since the Seal of Orichalcos is all powerful! Now end your turn already. You've kept me waiting long enough."

Nicholas's turn: "Perfect!" He grinned wide. "Now, Shining Elf, teach that measly magician a thing or two about what it means to be a real spellcaster!" Shining Elf drew a sword from his sheath, then dashed forward and attempted to slice Endymion in half, but, unknown to him and everybody else… "Destroy Shining Elf with Magical Blast!" Everybody had shocked looks on their faces; Nicholas, Yugi, Ricky, Tristan, Tea, Joey, Duke, Weevil, and Rex. "Why! His monster's weaker!" Rex called out. "Why, you may ask?" I looked at my facedown monster. "Because, with my Mystical Space Typhoon, I can destroy your Shadow Spell and restore Endymion to full power!" Just as I said, a big typhoon materialized from the card and obliterated Shadow Spell. "With Endymion back up to full strength again, counterattack and destroy Shining Elf with Magical Blast!" Endymion's arm parried Shining Elf's sword, allowing him to thrust the tip of his scepter into Shining Elf's abdomen, wiping him from the field.

My turn: I smirked. "You should've paid attention to my cards, Nicholas. Or you would've known." I drew and set fissure. "I have to activate this card now! I activate the trap card Call of the Haunted! It revives my Emperor from the graveyard to protect my life points." Aspiring Emperor Hope returned from Nicholas's graveyard. "How dare you!" "How dare I?" Nicholas mocked. "The whole point of Duel Monsters is to summon monsters with higher attack points, is it not?" "Not with a card like the Seal of Orichalcos. This card is pure evil. It's corrupted your monsters. It's scrambling your brain cells." I said angrily. "I don't care what cards I have to use as long as I wipe you off the face of the earth. And with my Aspiring Emperor Hope out on the field, you don't stand a chance. Just face it, your first duel against the seal was a fluke. You'll never stand up against it and you know it."

"You know… in any other duel, you'd be right. But I'm a different story. I activate one of my facedown cards! It's called Mage Power! This mystical flame empowers Endymion. For every magic and trap card I control, Endymion's attack increases by 500 points." I explained. "**That's enough to wipe me out!**" Nicholas called out. "And then some!" "Wait!" For some reason, I hesitated. "Don't attack!" "Why shouldn't I? Am I to assume that the rules to win by reducing the opponent's life points to zero are wrong? If I attack, I win." "Just hear me out! I was prepared to destroy you in our first meeting. I didn't expect you to take my challenge so easily. I was going to use those powers to destroy the island had you not accepted my challenge. When I lost my powers through your means, you made me play my hand. I was forced to join this organization. You see, you are a major threat to the world. I came from a future destroyed by Duel Monsters. I came back to stop the threat the world. By stopping you." He explained to me. "That makes no sense. How do **I** destroy the world?" I was confused by his statement. "I can't say. All I can say is that taking you away from this world, I prevent its destruction. I have to defeat you. To save my world." "Well now I can save it. By defeating you. Endymion, wipe out Aspiring Emperor Hope with Magical Blast!"

'I won…' "You fool! You've doomed the planet! You've caused its destruction!" The Seal of Orichalcos took Nicholas's soul. A few moments later, I walked over and picked up all his cards. "These cards…" Ricky walked up to me. "Travis? You aren't thinking about taking them, are you?" I shook my head. "No Ricky, I'm not. If what Nicholas said is true, taking these cards might've been the whole cause of it." I picked up his deck and took out all the cards that I know didn't belong in this timeline. "Endymion, open up a portal to wherever it is these cards came from." I pocketed the cards that were already created in this time. "Whenever that may have been." I took out Aspiring Emperor Hope and looked at him. "You don't belong here." Endymion opened up the portal and on the other side was a huge sprawling city. "Would you take a look at that!" I heard Weevil say. "Whoever said seeing is believing was wrong." Joey said. "I'm seeing it, but I ain't believing it." I set Nicholas's main deck onto a bench on the other side where a little boy with hair funkier than Yugi's was sitting. The boy saw me and waved to me with a big smile, and my friends and I waved back. "Take care of these cards." I said to him as he picked them up and looked at them.

Endymion closed that portal and opened another one. A blue spiraling galaxy on the other side. Nicholas's other deck, the one with all those weird monsters he said he… Xyz summoned… disappeared in yellow lights and flowed into Endymion's portal. "Come on, you guys. Pegasus is gonna be mad at us for being late." I said to them. "Not so fast." A familiar voice called out. I turned around and saw none other than that Australian kid. But he was with some other people; a real scary looking guy with blonde hair and the kid who singled me out this afternoon, Draco. "Some of us have some scores to settle with some of you!"

Mai was also with them.


End file.
